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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.
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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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Gotaas on
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Interesting I wonder how much one race would cost?
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Permalink Reply by Jayme on
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It would cost like 250K. We thought about that before too but when you do the math you'd have to raise 20K per month for a year.
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Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on
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There's a lot of time between now and March. If he is Score champ and finishes well at Dakar, other deals may get done. A great finish at Daytona may shake the tree too. Not good news,but the game is not over yet.
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Permalink Reply by RG4ME on
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Agreed. But let's say WHEN he is Score champ and finishes first at Dakar. I was actually hoping to get through this Friday the 13th without incident!
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Agree... Dega was the best I have felt in a long time 1st after a pit stop...
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Permalink Reply by Terie (aka vassinvegas) on
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Kinda sad if true, but it might be a blessing in disguise.The TORC series could be big, the races are really fun to watch, Lucas Oil runs some good races, besides all the SNORE, SCORE, BITD, etc off road races that he can't race in due to the NASCAR committment. I think he just has to deal with it and see where life takes him. And I don't want to hear the NASCAR pays the bills crap. Not true.
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I'd love to see him in rally cars or even ALMS. He'd tear those courses up. He is one of the greatest drivers in the world and he doesn't need to be in Nascar unless its advantageous to him and he's having a hell of a good time.
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Permalink Reply by DB on
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It's just a harsh reality, You can only pull rope so long before ya run out, and well- Ya gotta have results to keep racing, Even though the single car team is a great story, story's don't alway's get lot's of Tv time (in racing)- Hopefully he'll find another good company that will hang out awhile, There ain't a whole lot of Jim Beam's out there, but hoping
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