More than 200 NASCAR workers losing jobs as race team winds down operations

Pink slips will soon be going out at Michael Waltrip Racing as the well-known enterprise winds down major operations in the coming months.

A notice filed this week with the N.C. Department of Commerce shows 217 permanent layoffs will be effective Nov. 1. Companies are required to file Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, paperwork on closures or when laying off at least 500 employees, or between 50 and 499 if they make up at least one-third of the employer’s work force.

Michael Waltrip Racing will not field full-time cars in NASCAR's top series next year.

BusinessWise, a database of industry and company information, pegs employment at Michael Waltrip Racing at between 250 and 499 workers.

News of the layoffs follows the Cornelius-based organization’s announcement last month that it will not field full-time cars in NASCAR’s top series next year.