NASCAR sponsorships dwindling

PHOENIX - With a little more than a week left in the season, Dale Earnhardt Inc. has four teams in the top 35 and three good drivers, including promising Aric Almirola and Regan Smith … but only one sponsor.

If nothing changes, DEI could become at best a two-car team, assuming a merger of some sort can be pulled together.

The latest reports put Chip Ganassi at the bargaining table, with Target’s sponsorship to throw in.

There’s also a fierce scramble among NASCAR’s many small team owners to hold on to anything for 2009. What happens next at Bill Davis Racing is just one question. Johnny Benson said he won’t be back as Davis’ lead Trucks driver.

Over at Petty Enterprises things are looking tough, too. There’s no major sponsorship yet for that two-car operation. And the Boston Ventures angle is being questioned. Boston Ventures, an investment firm, bought a “significant” stake in Petty Enterprises over the summer, but now the question is why?

Investment firms want return on investment, 8 to 10 percent typically. NASCAR team owners, on the other hand, usually plow much of their profit (if there is any) back into more equipment and testing. The two philosophies simply don’t jibe. That’s one reason Richard Childress has been buying back that stake he once sold to an investment firm.

If the Pettys don’t find sponsorship, Bobby Labonte might be free to move on even though Bobby Labonte signed a new contract with the team this summer. And speculation is that he’s the man DEI is looking at—he’s a former NASCAR champ who might be a good fit with sponsor Target in a DEI Chevy.

And then there’s Juan Pablo Montoya, Ganassi’s current lead driver. Where might he land?

This isn’t a good time to be looking for a job in NASCAR—particularly if reports of possible massive layoffs at the end of the season are true.

? Mike Mulhern can be reached at .