Tri-Star Motorsports recently came back to NASCAR! The Nationwide Series that is, however. And they bought out the Front Row Motorsports #34 team.
Diamond Ridge Motorsports also returned! Also to the Nationwide Series. And they bought into Michael Waltrip's Nationwide team.
But we still have great drivers without Cup rides: JJ Yeley, Ward Burton, David Stremme, Reed Sorenson, etc.
The problem is sponsorship. 20 years ago, Son's Auto Service sponsored JD McDuffie's Cup series effort. Now people like Son's Auto Service couldn't probably afford to sponsor a Whelen Modified. It just goes to show how much the sport has changed.
Great teams like Waltrip-Diamond Racing, Red Horse Racing, and Germain Racing are still unsponsored.
If a strong team like Todd Bodine's truck effort is still unsponsored there is a problem and maybe NASCAR should do something about cost cutting. Remember when the "headlights" of the trucks were bolted back in 1995?
You have acknowledged a deep rooted problem Isaac. I wish there could be some reasonable resolution to the never ending escalation of the costs in the sport but going back to "my day", I bought my first race car for $600.00, race ready. Ran that can all the remainder of the 1969 season and actually made money because we didn't hurt the care and had no mechanical issues. I continued racing through 1973 with the ever increasing cost. Although I was breaking even, or losing very little, I could see it was getting out of hand. In 1976, a team with which I was involved, although not has a driver, spent $11,000.00 on a rolling chassis from Bobby Allison Racing, $8,500.00 for an engine from Jack Ingram, and that did not incluce tires, transmissions, rear ends, seat, body, or any of that. The race car that came out of the some in my back yard cost twice as much as the mobile home I was living in just in front of the shop.Thanks for thinking enough to write the blog. You have the right idea. I have the right idea. Plenty of people on here have the right idea. Unfortunately, we are not in control. Not yet, at least.Tim