What happens to Dodge teams when Chrysler folds?

UPDATE #2 The biggest story here in Atlanta — that the ragged U.S. economy and slumping car sales are leading General Motors to the brink of what looks like a buyout of Chrysler, which has NASCAR's 11 Dodge teams on pins and needles. One Detroit source said he senses the merger as inevitable and said that merger could really shake up the NASCAR garage, because rival car makers GM, Ford and Toyota may be unlikely to want to pick up any new NASCAR teams. George Gillett has been looking at Bill Davis' Toyota team and becoming a three-team Toyota operation; however there now appears to be a major stumbling block to any such move by Gillett. And that stumbling block is Toyota.

There are also worries that when the 2009 season dawns at Daytona, there will be only 30 teams with full-time non-factory corporate sponsorship. Winston Salem Journal

10/25/08 You'll see a story about how Cerberus, the financial holdings company that owns Chrysler, is reported to be wanting out of the auto industry and is talking to General Motors and Nissan-Renault about cutting the company up among them. Whether it would mean the end of such seminal American passenger car marques as Dodge and Chrysler remains to be seen. If Nissan-Renault took over, it might want to keep the Dodge brand name and even bolster its involvement in NASCAR. But it's hardly a risky bet to think that if GM took it over, the Dodge Sprint Cup teams would be on their way out. But where to? The marque's most successful team, GEM, already is strongly rumored to be dropping Dodge to take Kasey Kahne, Budweiser and the rest of the operation to Toyota in 2009. And there are talks of Petty Enterprises merging with some other team, with names such as Ganassi Sabates (now with Dodge) and DEI (Chevy) showing up in the mix. But the one I wonder about is Penske South. This is a team that was a powerhouse when Rusty Wallace was driving its Fords, and when Ryan Newman was winning tons of poles and a batch of races a few years ago in its Dodges. But it has fallen onto hard times the past couple of years, and the general uncompetitiveness of Dodge has to be a big part of it. — Herald-Times

10/20/08 If the General Motors merger/buyout of Chrysler does go through, and well it might, perhaps by Nov. 4, what happens to all those NASCAR Dodge teams?

MoPar fans have certainly been making their voices heard. NASCAR would be remiss to diss them.

Dodge racing executives haven’t had much to say lately about the situation.

And what might happen to Dodge’s various NASCAR contracts if Chrysler is ‘sold’ to GM is up in the air. Dodge has a number of long-term contracts in place, and just a few weeks ago Dodge officials insisted things were fine.

GEM: George Gillett, who with minority owner Ray Evernham (20 percent, perhaps to shrink to 10) has been Dodge’s anchor in NASCAR, is on the verge of making a deal to run Toyotas next season. That would put Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and Reed Sorensen in the Toyota camp.

Petty Enterprises appears on track to merge – somehow – with Dale Earnhardt Inc., which would turn the Petty Dodges into Chevrolets….apparently. Or maybe it’s just Kyle Petty ‘merging.’ Richard Petty Sunday didn’t have much to say about the DEI report; he didn’t deny the talks, but he insisted he didn’t have to panic about things: “We did our panicking last year. That’s why we did the deal with Boston Ventures. We’re ahead of the curve." However there appears to be considerable internal disagreement between the father and son about the next business steps to take, though Bobby Labonte still has no sponsor for 2009, and Kyle Petty himself apparently is looking to leave Petty Enterprises at the end of the year and take the company’s only full sponsor, Wells Fargo, with him.

Roger Penske – He’s had Dodge teams for years. But if he has to change, would it likely be to Ford rather Chevrolet or Toyota…because Chevrolet and Toyota already have a number of Cup operations? More at Winston Salem Journal