Talks about a possible merger between Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Petty Enterprises are under way, according to sources familiar with the situation, and Wells Fargo's sponsorship money could be key to making something happen.
However, the economic chaos that is wracking the country is also playing havoc with so many suddenly struggling NASCAR teams that it's unclear how any of the various scenarios might actually play out.
And just what positives might even come out of a DEI-Petty merger aren't that clear, either.
Can Kyle Petty help save DEI?
These are very curious times.
That's part of the state of the sport as NASCAR teams arrive at Clay Campbell's Martinsville Speedway on Friday for Sunday's TUMS QuikPak 500, for round six of the 10-race championship chase.
Tour leader Jimmie Johnson, despite ragged runs at Talladega and Concord the past two weeks, should be Sunday's favorite; this flat half-mile is one of his best tracks. Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon have won eight of the past 11 Martinsville races.
Toyota's Denny Hamlin won here in the spring.
Richard Petty sold a "significant" stake this summer in Petty Enterprises, the family racing operation in business since 1949, to Boston Ventures, a private equity firm. Precisely how that joint NASCAR venture might fit into any DEI-Petty merger is unclear, considering the financial problems of many Wall Street investment firms.
DEI, though it has a first-class technical operation, with about 80 cars and plenty of engines, and a solid 400-man staff well-respected, hasn't won this season, though it came close in a controversial finish at Talladega last week with rookie Regan Smith. DEI's last Cup win was with Martin Truex Jr. at Dover in late spring 2007.
Petty Enterprises hasn't won on the Sprint Cup tour since 1999, and the two-car team is looking for a 2009 sponsor for Bobby Labonte, who drives the legendary No. 43 car. The Labonte team is losing General Mills' sponsorship at the end of the season to car owner Richard Childress. Kyle Petty, the other Petty driver, has been at odds apparently with some of the team's executives, and he appears to have the option to take the Wells Fargo sponsorship with him to another team. If Kyle Petty were to leave, that would, for the moment, leave Petty Enterprises with no major sponsors.
Over at DEI there are similar sponsorship problems. Even though DEI has all four teams in the top 35 in the Cup standings, and thus guaranteed starting spots in the Daytona 500 next season if they maintain that, the Mooresville operation has yet to sign sponsorships for three of those four.
The U.S. Army sponsorship is leaving the Mark Martin-Aric Almirola DEI team and moving to Tony Stewart's new Chevy team to sponsor new teammate Ryan Newman, the Daytona 500 winner. Martin is leaving DEI at the end of the season to join Rick Hendrick, replacing Casey Mears (headed to Childress'). Almirola has been penciled in for a full-time ride with DEI, and he's shown excellent potential for a driver who has barely a dozen Cup runs under his belt. Plus, Almirola is highly personable, a good PR racer, sometimes rare in this business.
Regan Smith has no DEI contract nor sponsorship for 2009, and he's a free agent. His classy performance, on and off that track at Talladega, certainly boosted his stock.
Paul Menard, son of the wealthy businessman John Menard, is leaving DEI at the end of the year to join the Doug Yates Ford team. And DEI has no replacement yet for either Menard nor his sponsorship.
On top of all that, there is renewed debate over just how solid Bass Pro Shops' sponsorship is with DEI and its current lead driver Truex. There are reports that Stewart is wooing Bass Pro Shops to take a stake in his operation.
That paints a pretty grim picture -- the possibility that two of NASCAR's legendary franchises might wind up at the end of the season with no major sponsor at all.
DEI owner Teresa Earnhardt has granted no interviews on the issues.
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
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