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Busch loses Miccosukee as sponsor but presses on

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Monday, 08 February 2010

Busch loses Miccosukee as sponsor but presses on Hopes to announce new sponsor before Friday's opener By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM February 7, 2010  DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- New Camping World Truck Series owner Kyle Busch plans to race two trucks for the full 2010 season, which begins Friday at Daytona International Speedway, despite losing his truck's primary sponsor on Thursday. "We're good for Daytona, but we've got nothing else," Busch said. "We're running full-time [and] I will definitely run every race this year, with myself and Brian Ickler [driving]." At Daytona for Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout, Busch said he would announce a sponsor for Friday's NextEra Energy 250 "by Monday or Tuesday." "We're very, very close," Busch said. "We haven't announced yet because we're trying to get it where it's good for us and good for our partner that we've got. As soon as we figure that out it'll be announced. "Unfortunately we're in the predicament that we're in, but I feel confident that the series is strong and there are a lot of good opportunities for a lot of good partners to come up and be with us. "I look at it as a business adventure where I can build a lot of relationships with a lot of good people as I go." Through a cooperative deal with fellow team owner James Finch, Busch thought he had sponsorship for the No. 18 Toyota truck he'll share this season with Ickler, a NASCAR Touring Division and Late Model graduate who made 11 Truck starts last season, with two top-five and three top-10 finishes and an average finish of 14.6. The Miccosukee tribe has sponsored Finch and by association Busch when he drove in previous years for owner Billy Ballew before stepping out on his own this season. The tribe had sponsorship across all three of NASCAR's national tours through its gaming and resort property in South Florida. "Everything that I know of is just from my information through Finch, who was the coordinator of all that -- he was kind of the cornerstone," Busch said. "It was Finch's deal and he was just very supportive of me and Billy [Ballew] and he helped us out. "When I decided to do my own deal, Finch wanted to be a part of it and wanted to help out, so he stuck with me and said we'd keep doing it. And then we got the word that Miccosukee might not come back and we were all worried about it -- but it was too late, because I had already jumped both feet-first in [to doing his team]. "All I really know is what's been out there, that Billy Cypress, the previous chief, was excited about racing -- he loved racing and wanted to do it. And when the new guy came in, he won the election apparently due to doing all this new, saving money campaign and saving this and saving that for the Indians and stuff. "So he got voted in and the first order of business was to cut all expenses on stuff, and the NASCAR program was one of them." Finch's Phoenix Racing general manager Steve Barkdoll said their Cup team had a season-long engine deal with Hendrick Engines and would therefore attempt every race, though some of them might be "start-and-tests," Barkdoll said. He said Phoenix's full-season Nationwide program for James Buescher would continue. Kyle Busch Motorsports is also fielding a No. 56 Toyota for second-year Truck driver Tayler Malsam, which has sponsorship from Talking Rain for an "undetermined number of races," Busch said when the team was announced. In addition, Busch had said he hoped to acquire sponsorship to field a third truck for 2008 Truck Series champion Johnny Benson, who in the meantime has taken a ride for Daytona with Team Gill Racing. Busch said Benson would race his Late Model car later this summer. http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/headlines/truck/02/07/kybusch.continuing.on.no.sponsorship/

 

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