Rise in outside influence

By Staff
Jason Cannon
Franklin County Times
The influx of outside, or investor, money and management into NASCAR teams continued his week but this time it was a little different.
Richard Petty has sold a majority portion of Petty Enterprises to Boston Ventures, a private equity and investment firm. Sure, the Petty name will still be attached to the team and Richard Petty will serve as Chairman Emeritus, but this will not be the same operation we all are used to seeing.
The new CEO of Petty Enterprises is David Zucker. His list of past accomplishments includes stints at a video game company, Playboy Enterprises and numerous online companies. Do you think he knows how to loosen a car up in the middle of turn three? But, this is not an uncommon scene in today's NASCAR.
At the same time the new investors were being announced, Petty announced that Bobby Labonte has signed a four-year contract extension to remain with the team. Surely, the influx of outside cash and influence helped Labonte to reach this decision. I am somewhat surprised that Labonte decided to stay with Petty. I thought for sure he would bolt to Richard Childress' fourth team next season, along with current sponsor General Mills. I have a suspicion that we might see an exciting announcement about Labonte's new sponsor for 2009 and beyond.
There are still some true racers left in the garage that are owners, but most all have gone into the corporate world seeking financial stability. Jack Roush found the Fenway Group, Ray Evernham found George Gillett, Michael Waltrip Racing enlisted the help of a partner, and I don't see that trend slowing down.
It has been quite a topsy-turvy couple of weeks for the drivers occupying the Top 12 in the points standings. After the Dover race, eight of the 12 moved positions and after last week's race at Pocono, seven of the Top 12 moved either up or down. I hope we see this type of movement all the way up to the last race of the "regular season" at Richmond in September.
Kyle Busch still sits atop the standings after Pocono, but with a 43rd place finish, he saw his points lead over Jeff Burton reduced to only 21 points. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., despite a long winless streak on his back, remains in third position, followed by Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin.
The next race on the schedule is Sunday afternoon at the Michigan International Speedway. Fords have a long history of doing well at this track, located in the shadows of the big boys in Detroit. In particular, Roush Fenway Racing always is solid at Michigan.
My pick to win Sunday is Carl Edwards.
Jason Cannon is the publisher of The Franklin County Times. He can be reached at jason.cannon@fct.wpengine.com or (256) 332-1881.