The news we were all dreading...

[Allenbaba]

IMO he can't put any driver he wants in there like the owners for the other brands do. He has to wait until Toyota comes up with one.

That's not a factually true statement (several parts, actually).

But...having said that, it would be nice for everyone to all be on the same page, so in that respect, Barney weighs Toyota's council heavily. The Jones, Suarez, Bell 6-10 year plan was something Barney was excited about. But could he have put whoever he wanted in the car? Of course. Is it worth the crappy relationship to put someone in the car who Toyota opposes greatly? Of course not. Which is no different than any other owner/manufacturer relationship in the garage. HMS would not have Bowman and Byron in the car if Chevy wasn't on board with those decisions. Simply wouldn't happen.

 

[Allenbaba]

I do find that funny that the team has the most support it has ever had, full toyota support, 38 races covered and now cant support a second "furniture row/denver mattress" car haha

Almost everyone within the FRR circle finds it funny. And by "funny" I mean they scratch their head and literally say out loud "WTF? He has no problem sinking company money into Regan Smith driving around mid-pack, but God forbid he spend any of his own money to potentially win a championship!?!?" Yeah, a lot of head scratching.

But...to be fair to Barney...the plan was always for him to find a way to spend less. He was actively seeking sponsors when Regan was driving. His goal was to eventually minimize his overhead. Now that he has one fully covered championship caliber car...that's his dream scenario. (BTW he'll still spend roughly $5m of his own/company money to race next year. Selling 36 schemes doesn't necessarily mean bringing in enough money to win a championship. Eveyone's always looking for advantages.)

 

[Towmater]

AP Column: As sponsorship dollars dwindle, NASCAR's stars fade

No room in the stable for paying talented drivers when you get more speed out of paying for a left-rear aero engineer. Alex Bowman and William Byron are racing HMS equipment for less than $500,000 a season, or less than an NFL rookie minimum salary.

Also Tony Stewart makes it official he's full of crap.

Well, let's see, 10% before taxes goes to your agent. 35%+- goes to taxes.

How much is a motor coach? How much does it cost annually to pay a person to driver your coach from track to track and take care of it? How much is a plane? How much is a pilot? I'm thinking that there is going to be alot of drivers on team planes on the way back and forth from tracks and drivers flying commercial airlines to get to where they need to go to appearances in the future. Lots of belt tightening is going to happen over the next several years. Oh, and that big house in the Charlotte gated community or the one out at Lake Norman is gonna get alot smaller and be some place else too.

 

[klemmabyna]

maybe not the right thread, but something that keeps bouncing around my brain...

with nascar struggling to add new fans, while at the same time running off many of those who jumped on the bandwagon in the late 80's and 90's, what value is there for the sport when so many of the most recognizable faces (the drivers) are leaving, regardless of the reason?

jmo: I've been around forever and have seen many, many drivers come and go. and the sport marched on, thanks to new drivers that came in. and the past couple of years additions are as talented as any group I've seen during such a short time span.

the difference, and maybe this is just my perception, is these kids are now taking the seats of veterans that had a following, instead of coming up through the lower budget teams. the result being we lose some fans of drivers that maybe aren't really racing fans, and the new kids are so young the borderline nascar fans have never heard of them.

last call: I know this was too long. I also understand the economics for race teams has changed based on the bell curve of an industries maturity.

but I don't believe that accepting driver turnover at the mega-teams is the answer to the sports ill health.

 

[StandOnIt]

Drivers create their own stardom no matter what age they are. I'll leave the deathbed part to the deathbedders. On topic, Kenseth was a solid driver, wasn't a people person and that hurt his popularity. So far I don't see his replacement being much different, but the kid lost his dad and that really sucks at that age. Who knows what the future will bring for any of this stuff. But the young guns are the future and some of them are already popular.

 

[kymartin6]

Yeah he was sponsored by Apache Stoves I believe? Sponsor didn't come though with money so team folded, Mark went back to ASA and became a raging alcoholic hanging around Dick Trickle too much.

Mark didn't credit anyone for hooking him up with Jack and Robin other than Steve Hmiel who was team manager then Mark's crew chief when Robin left.

You can hear anything and a person just has to sort thru and take everything with a grain of salt..... but.... what I had always heard was.... when Jack was starting his team he went immediately looking for a big name driver. When he found out what they would cost him..... he was aghast..... Steve Hmeil pitched Mark to him and when he found out what Mark was wanting for a salary..... that sealed the deal.........Jack got a bargain.

 

[Skoalbandit33]

Well, let's see, 10% before taxes goes to your agent. 35%+- goes to taxes.

How much is a motor coach? How much does it cost annually to pay a person to driver your coach from track to track and take care of it? How much is a plane? How much is a pilot? I'm thinking that there is going to be alot of drivers on team planes on the way back and forth from tracks and drivers flying commercial airlines to get to where they need to go to appearances in the future. Lots of belt tightening is going to happen over the next several years. Oh, and that big house in the Charlotte gated community or the one out at Lake Norman is gonna get alot smaller and be some place else too.

If some of these salary and/or compensation amounts are true the drivers will need to sign T-Shirts with Kyle Larson for 50 bucks an hour for gas money.