The state of the NASCAR economy

May 2, 1:59 AMDetroit NASCAR ExaminerJosh Lobdell

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Too many "naked" Trucks is a bad indicator (Getty Images)

We are now 22 races into the 96 race schedule of the top three national NASCAR racing divisions. That is roughly a quarter of the way through the 2009 NASCAR season on the national level, and seems like a good time to assess where this sports stands in terms of dollars and cents.

The good news is we have not seen short fields at any NASCAR race in the three national divisions save for last week in Kansas. There were just 35 teams there which is one short of a full field of trucks at 36.

The bad news is many of these teams are going to reassess their situations after the week of the NASCAR All Star Race and Coke 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Of course, there is some worse news then that. In the Cup series several teams are having a problem regularly qualifying for races, and as each race is missed the team’s shot long term survival grows dim. Teams like Jeremy Mayfield’s #41 team although sponsored cannot get up to speed and as of the Talladega race has only raced 4 times in 2009.

David Gilliland’s #71 team apparently had a sponsor, but that sponsor has now defaulted on its payments to the race team leaving the funding issue unclear.

Of course we can balance all of that bad news with the fact hat a small, non super team just one a race at Talladega. James Finch and driver Brad Keslowski proved that in the world of NASCAR anything is possible and hopefully that win will bring more sponsor to the table, even in these harsh economic times.

In the Nationwide series the news seems a little better. All eight races of the 2009 season have had full fields and teams are picking up more sponsors as the season moves on.

In the Truck series however things have a more race to race feel. Two of the top five in points of this series have questionable funding moving forward. So far Germain Racing and team #30 of driver Todd Bodine have been able to piece together sponsors for every race of the 2009 season. They have a couple of sponsors lined up for the next few races but after that they promise not to show up unfunded. As the season gets to the summer this team may find itself without a sponsor and not at the race track.

Worse then that defending truck series champion Johnny Benson has had a sponsor for most of this season. Johnny is 5th in this year’s standing but one has to wonder when the bottom is going to fall out and we won’t see the defending champ at the race track.

All in all though, the NASCAR economy remains fairly strong; we are seeing new companies come to the sports as sponsors, we are seeing new race teams being formed and going out the track, and for the most part the races are attended strongly. Sure TV ratings are off a bit but not so much that anyone should hit the panic button.