Wheels & Deals: Childress Confirms He Expects To Field Three Cup Cars Next Year

SCENE DAILY's Bob Pockrass reported following the departure of driver Clint Bowyer and the movement of General Mills' sponsorship to Jeff Burton’s No. 31 car, NASCAR team owner Richard Childress "expects his organization to go from four to three full-time Sprint Cup teams” in ’12. Childress said that RCR "could field a fourth car on occasion for Austin Dillon.” Bowyer last week announced that “he was leaving RCR to join Michael Waltrip Racing after this season.” Childress Thursday said, “Right now, we are looking at three Cup cars, with an occasional Cup race (with a fourth car). Who knows what may come up between now and (next year)? I’ve had offers to race people and race drivers and have another full sponsorship with a driver” (SCENEDAILY.com, 10/13).

RENOVATING ITS DEAL: SCENE DAILY's Pockrass noted Dollar General yesterday officially announced it will sponsor Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 20 Sprint Cup car for 12 races in ’12, and while the deal appears “to be a good thing,” it also "could be looked at as a sign that primary sponsor The Home Depot wants to cut back from its 38-race commitment" to JGR and driver Joey Logano. JGR officials said that they “went to Home Depot officials about sharing the car with Dollar General and paying less for its sponsorship.” Team Owner Joe Gibbs: “It wasn’t Home Depot coming to us, it was us coming to Home Depot. … We’re planning on a long-term relationship for a long time with Dollar General.” He said that the “team has a ‘long-term’ deal with Home Depot." However, JGR President J.D. Gibbs "would only say that it’s beyond next year” (SCENEDAILY.com, 10/13). ESPN's David Newton said, “If you look at the model for most of NASCAR right now, most teams have more than one sponsor on the car, and this is just the way it’s going to be for the future on” (“NASCAR Now,” ESPN2, 10/13).

REACHING INTO ASIA: REUTERS’ Victoria Bryan cited a Puma spokesperson as saying that the German sporting goods company “plans to use a new Formula One partnership to gain consumers in Asia’s emerging markets and reassert its sports performance credentials.” Puma earlier this week “signed a deal to provide Formula One team Mercedes GP Petronas with a fire-proof racewear for drivers and pit teams, and to produce licensed apparel.” The Puma logo “will also be displayed on the 2012 Mercedes race car and teamwear” (REUTERS, 10/12).

SPONSOR NEWS: Ingersoll Rand will sponsor Front Row Motorsports’ No. 55 Ford Fusion driven by Travis Kvapil at the Bank of America 500 Cup race Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Ingersoll Rand)....Key Motorsports announced PrecisionWerx will be the primary sponsor of the No. 40 Chevrolet driven by Charles Lewandowski in Friday's Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage Nationwide Series race (Key Motorsports).