Dodge leaving NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2009
With the tightening of the purse strings at parent company Chrysler, the weakening economy and slow truck sales in general, Dodge has decided to pull out of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series following the completion of this year's festivities. This announcement should hardly come as a shock as Dodge made the decision to run just one factory-backed racer for 2008. That lone truck was being run by Bobby Hamilton Racing and we have no details on what the team plans to do for '09. The fact that Dodge has pulled support for the NASCAR Trucks has many pondering if the beleaguered automaker will do the same for the automotive side of the racing series. According to Dodge Motorsports senior manager Mike Delahanty, there are no reasons to jump to conclusions. We'll keep our collective ears to the ground. Thanks for the tip, Hernando!
[Source: Bleacher Report / Photo: Bo Nash]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tankd0g 5:21PM (9/08/2008)
Maybe Nissan will pick it up, lol.
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geo.stewart 5:22PM (9/08/2008)
dodge doesnt have a team in chase contention at the sprint cup level this year either.
this is why toyota was invited in...
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Brent 5:26PM (9/08/2008)
Smart move. Race sponsorship is a waste of money.
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Andrew 6:07PM (9/08/2008)
I agree. No one watches a race on Sunday or buys on Monday anymore.
mikea 5:34PM (9/08/2008)
That is absolute nonsence. Dodge has a new engine that was slated to come out in the 2010 season but it is so far ahead of schedule it will be tested a run during various races next season.
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iSpec 5:54PM (9/08/2008)
Dodge Leaving!
...a more appropriate and prophetic title.
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catgirlshyla 5:55PM (9/08/2008)
Good riddance. NASCAR isn't even living up to it's acronym. "National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing?" Pfft. None of the cars are stock!! Unless Autoblog has a story on Toyota unveiling a 700 BHP RWD Toyota Camry next year.
One down, many more to go.
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Bubba 6:17PM (9/08/2008)
It's a shame, actually, since the truck series is much more fun to watch than the Sprint Cup. And the trucks look like their street counterparts.
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RLQ 6:37PM (9/08/2008)
Time to grab life by the horns I guess.
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jim 10:07PM (9/08/2008)
Dodge won't be the only brand abandoning NASCAR. Why would an industry in trouble spend millions supporting a race series where the only thing the cars have in common with anything the mfg sells is the decal with the brands name?
Detroit will only be excited again about NASCAR when the CoT is powered by electricity or hydrogen.
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Scott 7:38AM (9/09/2008)
It wouldnt surprise me if Dodge left the car side of things. They can not get any breaks on oh a new engine. It should have been done two years ago.
I also agree that since the cars no longer look remotely close to the actual thing that really hurts sales. Not that the last generation of super areo darts looked anything like the cars on the sale floor though.
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Mike 12:13AM (9/09/2008)
It's ridiculous that this class of racing even exists. Just look at the picture: to the uninitiated (read non-American), it looks like something out of the Onion.
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Dave Ellis 5:54AM (9/09/2008)
Pick-up truck racing exists in the UK and Australia too Mike. I've seen it in mainland Europe as well.
Shift Kit 4:37PM (9/09/2008)
Yeah,stock car racing isnt really stock anymore,even in drag racing,Toyota,G.M,Ford use Chrysler HEMI engines based on the 1964 Hemi,so watch NHRA top fuel,funny car racing its ALL Dodge,with a Toyota,G.M,Ford body...
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stock_need_be Stock 7:24PM (9/09/2008)
Seriously..they need to take stock mustangs challengers and camaros safety them up..and let them go...certain limits there is ablsolutely nothing stock about todays stock cars..that went out in the early 90's
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mroverlord 8:58PM (9/09/2008)
Sort of bitter sweet. Dodge used the Craftsman truck series as R&D prior to their jump back in to Winston Cup (it will always be Winston Cup to me). In reality, I never understood the logic behind "truck racing". Trucks are bricks....if anything they should be 2 and 4wd dirt series (oh wait, that already exists). Not really a big loss for Chrysler if they leave Winston and Busch either. I think they should instead do LeMans and such that use some semblemce of production cars, and it would be much cheaper overall.
NASCAR is so commercial now it's pathetic, where other racing series manage to keep it more focused on the drivers and teams.
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Shift Kit 2:13PM (9/11/2008)
It is to commercialized and it kind of seems fake to me.I was surfing the tube one day and I found the Canadian version of Nascar,used to be Cascar last time I seen it,it has the old school feel to it,plus if you are a Dodge fan the Dodge's up there kick ass...
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