July 9th, 2009 
T.C. So now that the worst kept secret of the 2009 season is out, that Martin Truex Jr. is leaving Earnhardt Ganassi Racing for Michael Waltrip Rass Racing, it seems the popular thing to do is to pile on EGR and its future as an organization.
Following the announcement by MWR and Truex, both Truex himself and MWR’s General Manager Ty Norris questioned the stability and the future of the EGR team. The future of the Bass Pro Shops deal and how the GM bankruptcy will affect support being at the center of their barbs.
There was also a piece by FOXSports.com’s Lee Spencer about the situation and the outlook for EGR. In it, she discusses a new company being formed by the DEI side called Earnhardt Technologies Group. About this new venture she says:
ETG will provide a variety of engineering services to the racing community, including access to its seven-post shaker rig and pull down rigs, coordinate measuring for chassis geometry and data acquisition.
She then goes on to say that ETG could be the foundation for a future team and that she’s been told the Earnhardt/Ganassi partnership may not last beyond 2009.
While I don’t have specific knowledge of DEI’s plans for ETG, it would appear on the surface that this new company is more about creating a new revenue stream for DEI then it is about laying the foundation for a future team. Isn’t the foundation really already there?
Before we do EGR a favor and end the team’s misery, lets take a look at the reality of the situation facing the team.
Currently EGR is running two full time Cup teams; the #1 for Truex and the #42 for Juan Pablo Montoya. Entering this weekend’s race at Chicago, Montoya is sitting in the 11th position in points, is inside the Chase, and is 86 points ahead of 13th place Mark Martin. He has yet to finish in the top five in a race this season, but he continues to have solid performances. For more on Montoya’s solid season, see Journo’s post from Monday.
Truex is currently 24th in driver points, which isn’t terrible, but not great either. The team has shown the potential to run well, but can’t seem to put an entire weekend together on a regular basis. But seeing as how Montoya is running well, it’s hard to blame Truex’s problems on the team and the equipment. We may be seeing a bit of the lame duck syndrome here.
Heading into the 2010 season, EGR has full time backing from long time sponsor Target, and according to team President Steve Lauletta Bass Pro Shops will return. Some have said the Bass Pro deal is only for a half season, but even if that is the case, EGR has done a fine job this season of filling the races where Bass Pro isn’t the primary. There is no reason to believe they couldn’t do the same in 2010.
We’ve also heard that EGR is very close to putting a deal together that would return the #8 car and driver Aric Almirola to competition before this season is out. If that happens, and Almirola performs, a full time deal for Almirola in 2010 isn’t unrealistic.
So with that said, we are looking at two, possibly three funded cars for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010. What is unstable about that?
The other point of contention here is the backing from Chevrolet. There is no doubt that with the GM bankruptcy the level of support from the manufacturer will be drastically reduced. But if that makes EGR unstable, shouldn’t we be saying the same for NASCAR pillars Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing? EGR is not the only team that will be affected.
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not blaming Truex for leaving EGR for the NAPA ride at Waltrip’s joint. His contract was up and he is certainly free to explore his options. If he got a better deal at MWR, more power to him. But I think it is a bit ridiculous to now pile on EGR and call them unstable. Chip Ganassi is committed to his race teams for the long term and he’s got some great partners and some great people in place.
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TC-The potential for lame duck syndrome got me thinking here. You’re on the “inside”, tell me why teams click and don’t click.
I’ve been part of race teams, never in NASCAR where you run 35+ races a year though, as a driver and a crew and also in a corporate setting. Now I’m pretty easy to get along with, but quite frankly there are people I work w/ corporately that in no way could I spend that much time with in town or out for long. Then throw in the lucky dog driver making exponentially more coin than the crew humping it day in day out.
Now your an anonymous figure and don’t have to give specifics, but what is the typical psyche within a team? one that works vs one that struggles?
Am I the only person who thinks Ty Norris, who was FIRED from DEI, should probably shut up about other people and be more concerned with the fact that his own team is hardly any better off than EGR is? Anybody?
Not to be rude, but when was the last time Michael ran half-way competitively at a non-restrictor plate race? I mean, he’s 31st in points with one top 10 this season. Marcos and David haven’t run any more competitively than the 1 team most of the time, and if they could buy a break, they’d easily be ahead of many who are ahead of them in points.
I know MTJ would like to take Bono with him, but Bono’s been pretty loyal to DEI/EGR in the past, have you heard what his plans are?
My isn’t someone being a little vengeful or just a little cranky when shooting off their mouth about EGR.
Montoya is running right now in the Chase in 9th place. Ganassi is probably head-over-heels estactic and probably needed the eye surgery because of all the tears of joy from finally having a successful driver.
I love Truex but I also love Scott Riggs and where is he now? I’m uncertain that Truex will be anymore successful at MWR. But time will tell and I wish Truex the best and Ty Norris to just shut up.
RaceGirl- Nothing for sure with Bono but I’d be willing to bet with all the public talk about Truex wanting him, if he is not under obligation with EGR he might just end up at MWR next season.
RaceGirl – I am with you…Ty needs to be quiet. When he has solid footing like HMS, Roush, Gibbs….then he can throw stones. Until then, his house has a lot of plate glass.
I think Montoya success this year would be from the HP difference this year vs last year with Dodge, even Kahne and Kurt are having more success with a different engine program.
I dont see what happen to the guys with the ECR engines this year, Montoya is carrying the flag for them.
On the track I dont see how EGR is any worse off then RCR right now..
As you can tell by my name that I am a huge Mikey fan. Regardess of what you think, he is a man of his word. At Daytona and before he said that if he could not perform as good or better than his teammates he would put someone else in the car. He didn’t and he hired Truex. I don’t think Norris said anything that is not right there for the world to see. EGR has been in limbo for the last two years.
How can anyone say Root is not running good. The man is knocking on the door to get into the chase…Where is Junior. Hell, Mark Martin (Who I root for) has won three or four races and is not that far ahead of Root. And Ambrose, he is running really good considering he is not that far removed from road course racing.
This website/rumor mill has predicted MWR’s demise for the last couple of years. What is that old saying…”The reports of my demise are a little premature” or some such.
Everyone sells Mikey short because of his Schtick. Yes he is goofy, yes he is selling his house and getting divorced I guess, but heck, the man started a team from SCRATCH and has it running on par with ad better than some of the old powerhouse teams. Give them a break and give them a chance.