Future Uncertain For Several Drivers In Truck Series

Jared Turner
SceneDaily.com

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – It's not hard to find unhappy drivers roaming the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series garage this weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
 
The source of their angst?
 
When – and if – they will land a ride for the 2010 season.
 
As the 2009 campaign reaches the homestretch with just five races left, many drivers find themselves in a race to secure the funding to return to their team or move to a new one.
 
With the United States economy in a less-than-stellar state and sponsorship dollars in short supply, unease continues to impact NASCAR's No. 3 series much as it did going into the last offseason.
 
Red Horse Racing's Timothy Peters – when asked to offer up a guess - figures that only between seven and 10 drivers have definite plans in place for 2010 or beyond.
 
Peters, who moved from Premier Racing to Red Horse earlier this year, is one of those looking for a commitment. His agreement with Red Horse is only through the end of 2009 and he says he hasn't even discussed whether sponsor Strutmasters.com might return or go with him elsewhere.
 
"Right now I'm just saying my prayers and hope to keep doing what we're doing on the race track and hopefully I'll get back for next year," the Providence, N.C., native said.
 
Peters' situation is no more stable than that of many of his competitors, including teammate T.J. Bell.

Bell is 15th in the standings and has just four top-10s – not exactly the kind of numbers that make sponsors salivate.
 
"It all comes down to money and I know myself and Red Horse Racing are working very hard to try to be back in the 11 truck," Bell said. "I'd like to be. I think we've started to jell here pretty well. It'd be really good to start building right now to next year if we knew we had something.
 
"I know there's a few other options out there, but I'm not really looking at a bunch of other things until we get money in place for any of them."
 
The longer a driver goes without firming up plans for the coming season, the harder it can be to find a ride. Just ask Terry Cook.
 
"The end of 2006 was the first year that I really had to start looking for opportunities to race the next year and unfortunately every year thereafter I've done that," said the HT Motorsports driver, noting that his Martinsville-based organization is expected to evaluate his future in the offseason. "And that's the frustrating part of this business – the unknowns.
 
"The unknown right now is the 2010 racing season, so [I'm] kind of right back in the same boat I was last year."
 
Bell says it is especially tough when a driver doesn't have a solid commitment for one season by the end of the previous one.
 
"I hate the period after the last race and Christmas when you're on the phone non-stop. It's so stressful, it's nerve-racking trying to find something, trying to get something," he said. "I'd like to have it, knowing what I'm doing next year, going into the last race of the year just to calm all the nerves because it's already starting now."
 
It takes about $3 million annually to fully fund a Truck team, according to Wyler Racing driver Stacy Compton. Compton says he's about 95 percent sure he'll return to his seat in a full-time role next season but that the team needs an additional sponsor to chip in about $500,000. Compton isn't ready to completely rule out the possibility of a part-time schedule.
 
"We'll definitely be out there next year," he said. "Whether it's running for a championship or not, we'll have to wait and see."
 
More certainty exists among drivers at or near the top of this year's points standings. Team owner Kevin Harvick said on Friday that points leader and three-time champion Ron Hornaday will return to the No. 33 Chevrolet full-time and that Harvick and Ryan Newman will share time in the second Kevin Harvick Inc. truck.
 
ThorSport Racing teammates Matt Crafton (second in points) and Johnny Sauter (fifth) are also set to rejoin their respective organizations. That also appears to be the case for Randy Moss Motorsports' Mike Skinner (third), HT Motorsports' David Starr (10th) and GunBroker.com Racing's Jason White (14th).
 
Starr is also entertaining the possibility of a part-time Nationwide schedule with a team that he would not disclose yet. Possibly joining him in the Nationwide ranks will be Circle Bar Racing rookie James Buescher, who says he expects an announcement regarding his future in the next two weeks.
 
Buescher doesn't appear sold on a return to Circle Bar, where he has endured a tough rookie season that has included just one top-five and three top-10s.
 
"I don't know that the sponsorship is there for it right now," he said. "I don't really know what the status is on their sponsorship, but they've just kind of been on hold on that part of it. I haven't really heard much else about if they have a sponsor yet or not or what the deal is, so we'll have to see."

Jared Turner is a staff writer at NASCAR Scene. For more racing news, visit SceneDaily.com.
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