Nationwide Series driver Bobby Hamilton Jr. said Team Rensi Motorsports will close its doors in December if a new sponsor to replace Smithfield Foods isn’t found by then.
Hamilton Jr. is in his second stint with Team Rensi and nearly was without a ride this season until a sponsor was found in early December. Smithfield told the team last Monday it would not return next season, Hamilton Jr. said.
“It’s simple: If they don’t have nothing by December, they’re locking the doors,” Hamilton Jr. said. “That’s for real. They’ve already let people go. They’ve tried to keep as many good people as they could. We’ve already lost several good people because they didn’t know what was going on and they had to have jobs. It’s a bad deal. It’s for real.”
Efforts to reach team president Ronnie Russell were unsuccessful, but a source close to the team confirmed Hamilton Jr.’s statements.
Crew chief Chris Wright remains with the team, though a source said nearly half of the team’s payroll was cut via layoffs.
“The upsetting thing about it all is these guys have been in business for 11 years,” Hamilton Jr. said. “It’s so hard now to get [a sponsor] to look at you unless you’ve got a Cup guy. … It’s a mess.”
Hamilton Jr. blamed the current status of the Nationwide Series for the problems independent teams like Team Rensi are facing.
“The series has no identity,” Hamilton Jr. said. “It doesn’t have anything going on, there’s nothing to watch. There’s no drama because it’s all the same stuff.”
Team Rensi is co-owned by Ed Rensi and Gary Weisbaum. Once a two-car team, it was forced to cut back to one car, the No. 25 Ford, for 2008 because of sponsorship issues.
Hamilton Jr. said he has been “fishing around” for other rides.
“I’m about 40 percent, talking to a Cup deal,” Hamilton Jr. said. “I’ve been on the phone several times with a top-notch organization on the truck side. The Nationwide cars, there’s just none out there. Everybody I’ve talked to, if you’ve got a sponsor, they’ll take you. There are some when you could run a handful of races whenever a Cup guy doesn’t want to. I wouldn’t turn my back to that because it’s in really good equipment. I’d like to run full time but if you can’t, you’ve got to take what you can take.”
Hamilton Jr. said he even could end up owning his own Nationwide team next season. The five-time series winner isn’t ready to quit driving.
“I want to drive,” Hamilton Jr. said. “I ain’t ready to hang it up yet.”
Mentioned Drivers: Bobby Hamilton Jr.
