"It's Only Business;" Corporate Inner-Workings of NASCAR Can Be Puzzling for Fans

Austin Dillon, who drives for his grandfather, Richard Childress, subbed
for Tony Stewart Sunday (Google Images)

NASCAR has always been different than conventional stick and ball sports. That used to be simply because the equipment required was a 3,400 lb. race car rather than a bat and a glove. And the inner workings of the sport used to be no simpler than trying your best to build a car that goes faster than the other 42 cars on the track each week and promote your sponsor in a good light. But now, the sport is driven by corporate sponsor interests and those interests can cause the deck to shuffle, enough so that fans can be left wondering how stock car racing became so complicated. Nowadays, contract or no, big moves can still be made and fans may feel that they need a scorecard to keep track of them.

Case in point. This past weekend at Michigan International Speedway, Austin Dillon was tapped to drive the No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing while the car's regular wheelman, Tony Stewart, recovers from a broken leg. Dillon typically drives for his grandfather's team, Richard Childress Racing, running a full Nationwide schedule and a handful of Cup events in preparation for a full-time move to the series in 2014. Dillon, ridiculous looking cowboy hat or not, is quite likely the next big Cup star (next to Kyle Larson), so why would he turn down the opportunity to run what is essentially a Hendrick Motorsports Chevy? There's a lot of information that he could learn right?

Wrong. Fox Sports 1 reported during practice that the team kept Dillon to generalized terminology in describing how the car felt on track. The notebooks were closed, with SHR not wanting Dillon to report anything he could learn back to "Pop-Pop." So what other reason could Dillon have for moving over to the No. 14 at MIS and later this year at Talladega? Stewart and Dillon both share a sponsor in Bass Pro Shops. No doubt Johnny Morris, owner of Bass Pro, had at least little input as to who pinch hit for Smoke.



Martin will have to trade in that royal blue suit
for a black and orange one (Google Image)

So who will fill in in Stewart's Chevrolet SS for the other 12 races Dillon doesn't run? Why Mark Martin of course! That's right. The same Mark Martin who has driven a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry the past two seasons, and was still under contract to do so for nine more events this year. The team made it no secret that they loved having the 54-year-old driver in their cars from the day they unceremoniously kicked David Reutimann to the curb so Martin could fill his seat. Martin was the same way, praising the efforts of his team, crew chief Rodney Childers, sponsor Aaron's  and Toyota Racing Development. But now, MWR says that this move "makes sense for (the team)," because now they can get a head start with Brian Vickers, who will drive the 55 car in 2014. Suddenly Martin's supposedly valued experience and knowledge of the sport is no longer required. Likewise, fans will now have to unassociated him with Aaron's, who had done a commendable job of making Martin part of their brand, having featured him in commercials with Waltrip since 2012. Now, Martin will have to eat soda cookies for Mobil 1 instead of polishing the headlights on his Aaron's Dream Machine.

But it is not only contracts and sponsor relationships that are now apparently devoid of meaning in NASCAR racing. Words have recently proven to ring just as hollow.
 
Ryan Newman was told before the race weekend at Loudon, New Hampshire that he was the first casualty of the team's acquisition of Kevin Harvick. The reasoning? SHR just doesn't have the funding or resources to run a fourth car. "We're not ready to expand to a fourth team," Stewart said. "I truly wish we were able to facilitate four teams at this time.  We're just not able to do that.  Down the road, I'm sure if that becomes a possibility, he'll most definitely be on the list to fill the fourth seat again." Newman responded to the news of his ouster by going out the next week by not only winning the pole for the Brickyard 400, but the race as well.

Well, this past weekend at Michigan, rumors began to circulate that SHR had, in fact scrounged up enough funding to run a fourth car in next year. So just who is at the top of the list to drive this fourth car?



Busch may head to SHR in 2014 (Google Image)

That would be one Kurt Busch. The hot-headed driver, who's career has had something of a rebirth this year at Furniture Row Racing is rumored to be in talks with SHR to drive a fourth Chevy with sponsorship from Haas Automation, a leading producer of CNC machining tools and the company owned by the "H" in SHR, Gene Haas. This would be a similar model that MWR has followed the past two season's branding the team's No. 15 and No. 55 cars with co-owner, millionaire Rob Kauffman's company, RK Motors. SHR did not confirm or deny talks with Busch, but team spokesman Mike Arning said, "Stewart-Haas Racing constantly strives to improve itself, and expansion is something that is often discussed. If the right opportunity presents itself, it's something the team will certainly consider."

Newman's situation brings to mind the one that faced Reutimann at MWR referenced earlier. He was, at the time, the only driver to win under the MWR banner, victorious in the 2009 Coke 600 and the 2010 race at Chicago. After winning that event, the team offered the Florida driver a 2-year contract extension, saying he and his team had proven themselves worthy of a new deal. But one year later, sponsor Aaron's and Waltrip decided to replace the driver once known around the shop as "The Franchise," with Martin, the driver who has become known by many fans as being like "The Favre," due to his unwillingness to hang up his helmet. With one full year left on that new contract he earned with a hard fought victory (he held off Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon to get it), and just three races left in the 2011 season, Waltrip texted (yes, TEXTED) Reutimann that he was out and that Martin was in for the 2012 season. At the time, Reutimann was told, "It's just business." He responded with, "It's only business if it doesn't happen to you."

Now Newman, who was no doubt fed that same cliché, and had been promised the fourth car that SHR is now miraculously able to run , has received the same slap-in-the-face treatment Reutimann did two seasons ago. Stewart had promised a future ride to his fishing buddy, but it appears that promise was nothing more than a whopper of a fish story that Newman fell for hook, line and sinker.

STP still sponsors Petty's famous 43 car today (Google Images)

There was, however, a time in NASCAR when sponsor relationships were valued, contracts were worth more than the paper they were printed on, and fans could rest assured that their driver would race for the same team for at least a whole season. Seven-time champion Richard Petty made his name racing STP-sponsored Dodges and Pontiacs from 1972 until he retired in 1992. In fact, STP and "The King" still enjoy a successful business relationship, with Petty still making appearances on their behalf and shooting commercials for the oil treatment producer. Dale Earnhardt will forever be linked to his jet black No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet. While he is also associated with the yellow and blue Wrangler Jeans Machine he ran from 1982 to 1987, Earnhardt will forever be known as "The Man in Black" because of his relationship with Goodwrench and a paint scheme that remained unchanged from 1988 until his death in 2001. Jeff Gordon has been sponsored in some form or fashion by DuPont since his rookie campaign in 1993. Waltrip, the antithesis of Gordon (winning just four races in over 25 years as a driver), has been synonymous with NAPA Auto Parts since 2001. Dale Jarrett had the UPS "Package Car" from 2001 to 2008.

Yes, NASCAR is now ruled by sponsorship dollars, and the current economic state is such that many drivers need multiple companies to fill out their racing schedule, as one sponsor can no longer write a big check to cover the full 36-race schedule. The latter is bad enough for continuity, but when drivers that have major corporate backing change allegiances at the drop of a hat, fans could be left to wonder, not only what car number their favorite driver is in this week, but "how good can my driver's old sponsor be if he doesn't endorse them anymore?"  NASCAR is more business than sport these days, and that business model relies on fans buying the participating sponsors' products to make their cars go 'round. If fans begin to think of their favorite drivers as businessmen instead of racers, then the sport of stock car racing may be closing in on it's final laps.