Adding a 2nd Car to RGM....Questions on when it helps, when it hurts

Thanks for helping me fill an off week. Excellent pontification on a Labonte driven RGM car.

All logistics and $$ aside (which is a big "aside")...

- It seems like having a second care would help RG ONLY if the driver had a similar driving style. I certainlyl understand the 2x testing, ability to go different directions during practice to find out what works, etc. BUT, what works for one driver might not be comfortable for another....leaving the team still searching.

I ask because we've seen this scenario this year with Jeff Gordon and Johnson and certainly in the Rousch camp as well.

So...after all that...IS that a factor?

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Permalink Reply by rpmscott on September 3, 2009 at 8:35am

I have never understood the 2nd car thing..... And why you can put all of your efforts and $$$ on one car and make a very strong program. I'm not saying they are doing something wrong because RGM cant. I'm just saying I don't know why!
Maybe someone knows why?

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Permalink Reply by Lance on September 3, 2009 at 8:02pm

Here is the deal. It takes 20 million a year to operate one team. It doesn't take 40 million to operate 2 teams or 60 million to operate 3 teams because you can consolidate departments, such as chassis shop, aero, engine, and R&D. But you still sell each team as 20 million plus sponsorship because the ad market warrants that price.It actually becomes profitable to own a Nascar team once you reach the 3 team threshold. Then you have more money. That is the biggest reason it is advantageous to own multiple cars. Rick Hendrick was the first to figure out how that business model worked. He had 3 cars as early as 1987, YEARS before teams like Yates, Childress, and even Roush jumped onto the multi-car team.

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Permalink Reply by vak7 on September 3, 2009 at 8:52am

Same questions here. I get the testing aspect since it's so restricted now. But multi car teams have always had certain drivers outperform the others. Even the mega pioneer! Once Hendcrap brought the 48 into the stable, the 25 quit performing. Same car, same champion driver. It brought the team to 3 and not 2 but illustrates my point.

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Permalink Reply by Lance on September 3, 2009 at 8:03pm

Yes but Hendrick still has 3 cars in champonship contention and one more that is coming around. All 4 mind you are ahead of any single car team out there.

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Permalink Reply by Jared Quigg on September 3, 2009 at 9:42am

i hate roush

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Permalink Reply by Dave-O on September 3, 2009 at 10:18am

There is far too much technical detail in the COT model for a one-car team to really be able to capture it all. It's all knowledge and it's use- and the big boys will always win that battle because they have garages full of both. RG needs far more than a second car to seriously challenge the next level of nascar competition and break into the 20th-30th bracket of the standings.

Look what multiple cars and good people did for MWR. There's a pretty big reason they made such a jump year over year since they started out in 2007.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Northcutt on September 3, 2009 at 10:58am

MWR will only get better with Truex as well.

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Permalink Reply by Dave-O on September 3, 2009 at 11:49am

I think Bootie might've been holding the team back. I use to watch him with Kanus on the NASCAR Performance show on SPEED, and it always seemed like Kanus was running circles around him. Maybe that was just a "TV personaltiy" thing, I don't know. Either way, we'll see how Mikey does for the rest of the season.