Mum’s the word on NASCAR mergers

If teams are talking to others in the garage area about merging, the owners and executives weren’t talking about it Sunday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage.

“I can save you a lot of time here – I can’t talk about any of this," said Chip Ganassi, co-owner of Chip Ganassi Racing at Phoenix International Raceway. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it, but I can’t talk about all this stuff."

Ganassi’s team reportedly has been in talks with Petty Enterprises and Dale Earnhardt Inc. – two teams that also have reportedly been in discussions with each other.

Petty Enterprises CEO David Zucker politely declined to talk about any merger possibilities.

DEI President Max Siegel wasn’t at the race track.

“We are having multiple discussions about ways to sustain a strong racing program," Siegel said via e-mail. “We will make an announcement about our future plans in the next two weeks."

Hall of Fame Racing and Wood Brothers Racing also have been mentioned as potential candidates for mergers.

“We’re working hard to make sure that we’re [here and competitive] – that’s what we’re working hard to do," Hall of Fame Racing co-owner Tom Garfinkel said. “I hesitate to put a timeline on it because it’s not all within my control."

Bill Davis Racing said Saturday that he thought he had a potential merger done but it didn’t look like it would happen. Robby Gordon said his team is not involved in any of the merger talk. Scenedaily.com