Will Nationwide Become Too Expensive

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muggle not

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http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/NRSTAFF/805180341/-1/SPORTS02

NASCAR notes: Earnhardt Jr. team might move to Cup

By Dustin Long
Staff Writer
Sunday, May. 18, 2008 3:00 am
CONCORD -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. no longer discounts the idea of moving his Nationwide team to the Sprint Cup Series.

With the Nationwide series expected to switch to the Car of Tomorrow next year, expenses in switching the cars over to the newer models will almost make it worthwhile to be in Cup instead, Earnhardt said. That has him rethinking previous statements that he had no plans to move his team to Cup.

"It's harder to get sponsorships,'' Earnhardt said. "And the COT program is going to be too expensive for me to justify creating a whole new program with COT stuff, so I'd just as soon go into the Cup Series or get out of the Nationwide Series altogether."

Earnhardt admitted he could make the move as early as next season.

"Yeah, maybe,'' he said. "If the right opportunity comes along with the right sponsorship and driver, we'd love to do it."

If his team made such a move, would it go after his friend Martin Truex Jr.?

"No,'' Earnhardt said. "Why would he want to come drive for me? He's in good stuff now, and he's going to have great opportunities from other people. For the first year coming out of the box, man, we'll struggle
 
This has been a complaint for years now. And we've also noticed that the big teams from Cup have inundated the series, which might have taken the place of other teams that have not been able to afford the series and have either dropped out, or run limited races. I wonder if the series will begin to lose car counts if the big Cup teams begin to fall out. Or, will smaller teams continue to race, having a better chance to win?
 
buckaroo said:
This has been a complaint for years now. And we've also noticed that the big teams from Cup have inundated the series, which might have taken the place of other teams that have not been able to afford the series and have either dropped out, or run limited races. I wonder if the series will begin to lose car counts if the big Cup teams begin to fall out. Or, will smaller teams continue to race, having a better chance to win?
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judging by the nextel showdown, racing for the win is racing for the win, wether points care or not.

So even in n'wide, the low/no budget teams will still run, going for the better chance to win. Plus, if the big teams get out, these underfunded cars will suddenly become properly funded, and then the avg joe will finally be able to afford it. See: NHRA pro stock.
 
The point is though....the change to the COT is going to be very, very, expensive for Nationwide teams. Will they be able to afford the change. Remember, the sponsorship dollars isn't near as great as the Cup series.
 
the CoT will have more of it's origional idea performed in the n'wide series. Cup still has a short track, intermediate track, big track, and plate cars, which the CoT was supposed to replace but didn't quite. N'wide doesnt have that kind of budget, so the teams may indeed now only have 1 or 2 or 3 cars for 1 team and that's all.

Who it will hurt, will be the ARCA series when the CoT gets there. Many of those teams dont have even 100K in sponsorship.


on the topic, this week, the NHRA broadcast team is going over dragracing budgets. The low buck TF teams are 750K-1.5M, while a full tilt TF team (see: shumacher) is closer to 3 mil a year. Prostock is closer to the 100-150K per year bracket. For comparison.
 
Magnethead said:
on the topic, this week, the NHRA broadcast team is going over dragracing budgets. The low buck TF teams are 750K-1.5M, while a full tilt TF team (see: shumacher) is closer to 3 mil a year. Prostock is closer to the 100-150K per year bracket. For comparison.
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Now, how long before NHRA has 8-car fields?
 
As long as Morgan Shepherd keeps making races, the series will be fine. ;)
 
Magnethead said:
Who it will hurt, will be the ARCA series when the CoT gets there. Many of those teams dont have even 100K in sponsorship.
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why would it hurt arca? they dont have ties to NASCAR except a driver running in their race now and then. They can continue to use the cars they have now. I would imagine that the Camping World cars will stay the same too. If they changed that half the teams would have to quit or go to running super late models on the asphalt or something.
 
personaly i don't want to see the change to COT cars in the busch series, i think they ought to leave it as is. like someone already said, the lower budget teams are already strugglin as it is, making everyone switch to COT cars would definitely impact these guys hard. just leave it alone, it's good as is right now...
 
I think the Nationwide Series is headed for a big fall next year or the year after. The Cup teams coming in have killed what it was.
 
Changing the cars in Nationwide series to the COT will only make the Cup teams do more racing in that series. It's clear that NASCAR wants to continue using the Nationwide series for testing for the Cup series. Back in the day when the Busch series ran 6 cylinder engines, they had to pay Cup drivers to race. Once they changed to 8 cylinder, the Buschwhackers began to show up weekly, more and more every year.
 
buckaroo said:
Changing the cars in Nationwide series to the COT will only make the Cup teams do more racing in that series. It's clear that NASCAR wants to continue using the Nationwide series for testing for the Cup series. Back in the day when the Busch series ran 6 cylinder engines, they had to pay Cup drivers to race. Once they changed to 8 cylinder, the Buschwhackers began to show up weekly, more and more every year.
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That is true Buckaroo. I also remember that.
 
Yeah i miss the days when you had your rivals in cup and seperate ones in busch. You had guys like hamilton jr and hank parker jr and all those guys fighting each other every week and there wasnt a cup guy taking home the money all the time.
 
basscatcher89 said:
Yeah i miss the days when you had your rivals in cup and seperate ones in busch. You had guys like hamilton jr and hank parker jr and all those guys fighting each other every week and there wasnt a cup guy taking home the money all the time.
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theres names i havent heard of in a LONG time.
 
Buckaroo hit it right when he said the turning point was the changeover from six to eight cylinder engines. Those sixes sounded like a pack of mad hornets and they were sure fun to watch.

But speaking of names you haven't heard in a long time are those of guys like Jack Ingrahm, Sam Ard, Tommy Houston, Rick Mast, Tommy Ellis, Rob Moroso, Mike Potter and Gary Balough. Maybe not all full timers but one more added to the ranks of those who made the sport what it is today.

And not to forget Mike Alexander who showed extreme talent in both series but suffered a severe injury in a racing accident, ending his career in NASCAR driving for a team owner whose career was ended with a similar type of injury.
 
Today's proving grounds are now the local tracks, then get signed to a developmental deal, run some NASCAR North or West races, get a Cup ride, and run a few NWS races to go along with it.
 
I think they could fix the series some if they limited the number of races that cup drivers could compete in. They would still have big names to draw ticket sales, but the full time Nationwide drivers would compete for the championship.
 
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