Chrysler Pulls out of NASCAR

[Jeff Teuton]

Penske went to Ford, so Chrysler will wait out the season in 2013. Seems NASCAR is down 38%, I don't think NHRA is down that much. I'm not sure which division controls Nascar, but it isn't Mopar Performance. Those guys do a really good job with few bucks. I think SRT or Dodge Motorsports controls Nascar. More later.

[Ron Middleton]

Jeff, I think the cost of involvement these days with the car manufacturers outweighs the exposure received in NASCAR today. I would believe that Chrysler has not spent the same amount of funding in NASCAR as has Chevrolet and Ford. The fact that Fiat's involvement in the company also doesn't help the fact. Hopefully this will mean more involvement in grassroots motorsports such as dragracing, road racing, etc. Only time will tell.

[Bill Koski]

Some guy from Chrysler was quoted as saying they were ready to spend 3 times more on NASCAR then they were currently spending to stay in the sport but the logistics couldn't be worked out in time.
I'd guess they didn't tell Penske this before he jumped to ford?

[Frito]

Jeff,
Ralph Giles did a long interview on sirius radio yesterday. He now is over SRT so I assume that group handles the NASCAR stuff.

[Jeff Lee]

What IF all the car manufacturers pulled out of NASCAR? Would it go away? Not being a follower of NASCAR, I'm don't know why the OEM's are even involved.

[jmcarter]

Previous to this unfortunate news Speed was reporting that the Furniture Row team was close to inking a two car deal, too bad; I think they got a lot of positive exposure from having such a small contingent running against the odds and doing well and their horsepower always seemed on par with the Roush Yates engines. Just seems like abandoning NASCAR undermines their SRT and performance brands. Ford races Fusions, Chevy Impalas and the typical demographic for those cars can really identify with 200 MPH Stockers? At least the Dodge Charger has some racing heritage and new style Hemi Chargers are pretty good bang for the buck...think it is the only NASCAR model that truly falls into the "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" scheme.

[GUMP]

My understanding is that the guy at Fiat drug his feet. There may have been a one year contract extension offered, but Ford offered five years. Penske will be closing their engine shop at the end of this season and a lot of good guys will be out of work.

[Myron Piatek]

Maybe this would be a good time to invest in some lower classed (& lower priced?) Drag Pack Challengers to spread them around like the originals with 5.9 Magnum engines (Jeff's blue car) and like the Fords are doing for more exposure?

I can understand the effort and desire to stand out in the fastest classes, but I never did understand why only 3 of the 5.9 combos were ordered.

[Phillip marvetz]

I'll take a 5.9 DP if Chrysler is going to start handing them out..

[Jack McCarthy]

jeff only wanted three ...

as stockholders clamor for increased profits every year often the cuts to satisfy that demand are cuts to what made last years profits... dumb from the top down.

captain