Nationwide series? Why not?

This may have been discussed before..

Why doesn't RGM field a full time Nationwide ride? Would bring valuable exposure to the program and would be a good selling point for potential sponsors to be able to be on both the Cup car and the Nationwide car. I'm not sure how well the technical aspects translate from the Nationwide car to the Cup car, but if nothing else, running the Nationwide race before the Cup race would be good practice for the pit crew, as well as working on strategy for the cup race. While so far in 2009 Rob only plans to run the Montreal race, putting other drivers in the car would work too.. kinda like GEM/RPM does with the #9 car and Hendrick does with the #5.. couple of drivers that have worked before with RGM would be PJ Jones, Matt Crafton, and Brian Ickler. Even drivers like Patrick Carpentier, Jacques Villeneuve, or Brendan Gaughan would be good choices for the ride. I'm sure some of those drivers can bring a sponsor for at least a couple of races... maybe some of those sponsors would enjoy staying on board with RGM after their experience at the races. Who knows, a Nationwide team could be a great incubator for new Cup talent..

Personally, I'd like to see Ickler in the car. Brian has a long relationship with NAPA (good thing to have since POS may be retiring after this year), and he has run his own Camping World West shop for some time now. He is usually a front runner in that series, winning a few races along the way. This California racer I think also has some experience off-road racing as well... would be a great fit with RGM. Just my opinion, and only speculation of course..

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Permalink Reply by brian campbell on February 17, 2009 at 12:03pm

$$$$ he cant even fund his cup team at this time.needs to have more success before expansion.it is a business move at this time expanding a team would be the wrong move.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Meyer on February 17, 2009 at 12:44pm

I agree Brian, I wouldn't want to see RGM build car one for the Nationwide series without sponsorship in place to pay for it. I also wouldn't want RGM to lose focus on the Cup series or take anything away from it to run in Nationwide. But, having the potential to run a Nationwide car on the same weekend as the Cup car may be attractive to certain sponsors who haven't worked with RGM before. RGM is going to field a Cup car this year, according to Rob, sponsorship or not. In theory, if Rob can sell a weekend by running for a sponsor in both the Cup and Nationwide series and have the Sponsor foot no less than half of the bill for the weekend wouldn't he still be coming out ahead both financially and in terms of track experience? The sponsor certainly would be with double the exposure... (I am still waiting for definite numbers regarding how much it costs to field a Nationwide team, Cup team for a race, etc.. I may be completely off base here with my finances here..)