ESPN: Robby Gordon faces 8-race season

Uh-oh. From ESPN.com

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Robby Gordon, who has run a full Sprint Cup schedule as a driver/owner since 2006, says he has enough sponsorship for only eight races in 2010.

"I'm looking at a lot of weekends off,'' a frustrated Gordon told ESPN.com on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Gordon said he has two four-race commitments from sponsors for next season. One of his major sponsors, Jim Beam, announced earlier in the year that it would not return to the sport.

"Nobody is spending money,'' Gordon said. "Everybody is cutting the fat out of everything. To be in racing you have to be a pretty big company.''

Gordon said many of the larger teams are making deals for well less than the market value because they can afford to, but that runs teams like his out of business.

"It's sponsorship suicide,'' said Gordon, who is 34th in points.

Gordon said NASCAR needs to create a unified marketing plan so every team is on a level playing field. He said there are so many different plans now that sponsors are confused.

He expects to see more start-and-park teams next season than ever, adding he doesn't plan to be one.

"I don't know what we're going to do,'' Gordon said. "We're going to continue to work hard to sell races through March of next year. After that I'm looking at a lot of weekends off.''

David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.

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Permalink Reply by DB on November 13, 2009 at 6:43pm

Exactly

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Permalink Reply by Davin Wilson on November 13, 2009 at 6:22pm

How do you say it? Dot the i's cross the t's. Robby's a cat - no matter what we will be cheering him on in some fashion next season. Look how many short term or single event sponsors RGM had this year.

I will say - I'm not watching NASCRAP w/ out Robby.

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Permalink Reply by DB on November 13, 2009 at 6:46pm

Everything's for a reason, it'll all work out- worst case, just driver @ SHR- i know, but it would be cool to see!

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Permalink Reply by Dave-O on November 13, 2009 at 6:28pm

Does 8 cup races = full season of truck racing in terms of cost? WIth the constant big gains in tv ratings that the truck series is getting, it could present good "value" for a sponsor like Polaris and, Mapei. Menards and Monster are already there.

The overall $$ involved in nascar will continue to drop, even after the economy comes back. TCup racing isn't growing and sure isn't as attractive as it was 3-4 years ago. With Roush pulling out of trucks, there are no longer any big boys involved in the series. It'll be the growth leader for NASCAR.

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Permalink Reply by Nena Patrick on November 13, 2009 at 8:39pm

The truck series has averaged better ratings this year than the nationwide. RG to trucks!!!

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Permalink Reply by Dave-O on November 14, 2009 at 12:18am

Jumps of 30%+ are definitly selling points to sponsors. Far better than Cup, which is losing fans at all segments and isn't growing into any markets.

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Permalink Reply by kevin love on November 13, 2009 at 6:59pm

I asked Robby a couple years ago at Dega "why don't you get out of cup and run for a busch (now Nat.wide) championship?" His response was it's a money thing,not enough sponser money to do it right.Would love to see him run for it but with cup teams runnin there so much may just be a cheaper back of the pack thing. I will pull for Robby where ever he runs.

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Permalink Reply by NIKAL on November 13, 2009 at 7:10pm

Racing anything but Cup probably wont pay the mortgage on RGM. I know people would love to see him race TORC full time or do more Rally racing or even do NW or Trucks. The problem is a Start & Park in Cup pays better then most 1st places finishes in the truck series. And with out a sponsor, your still not paying the bills.

One of my previously posted thoughts about all these rumored drivers and management walking threw RGM over the last few weeks, might be closer to what is really happening. I posted that maybe RGM was looking to lease out half of his shop to another team like MWR does with JTG. This would help cover some of the daily expenses, as that is what your sponsorship is typically covering. Then again maybe he is looking to down size to save money and help get threw next year. Remember when Robby was suppose to be selling to Gillett? His building was part of that deal. RGM is big enough to house a multi car team which we know RGM will not be anytime soon.

Also think about this. Robby states that he has 8 races covered for 2010. Even if Jim Beam was staying threw 2010 that would only be another 12 races. So that would have only been 20 out of 36 races. He would have still be 16 races short of a full season.

Also I wonder if John Menard had told Robby this would be the last season as a Primary Sponsor? Because in the past Menards has been good for at least 12 races if not more. In Robbys interview he does not mention any sponsors names, but you would have thought Menard would have been back for the same, that is unless the Menard contract is up at the end of the year too? The economy is still bad in the construction industry and John cant keep flushing money away. And you know he will keep funding Paul, so if he has to cut something where do you start?

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Permalink Reply by dkam7 on November 13, 2009 at 7:45pm

A big part of it is NASCAR does not have the marketing power it used to. Not as many fans=not as much money.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on November 13, 2009 at 7:47pm

yup. And companies know this. Some dont want to spend $10,000 , let alone $1,000,000

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Permalink Reply by DB on November 13, 2009 at 8:27pm

That's what happen's when you (Nascar) change more than the weather, chasing those fan's looking for the buck when they had a pretty good foundation as it was, things change and of course safety is paramount, but every damn week it seemed like their was something new the past few years- GO back to Racing and let the entertainment take care of itself, Greed kills.