Waltrip tries to keep Truex after Richmond scandal

Stripped of his Chase spot, then his sponsorship, Martin Truex Jr. is now in a hasty scramble to find a ride. He his little time to piece together a deal and few options.

"There's not a whole lot out there," Truex said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

But if he can find a funded ride out there, owner Michael Waltrip is willing to let Truex walk. With NAPA out of the picture, Truex could decide to bolt Michael Waltrip Racing as part of the aftershock of the Richmond scandal that saw him booted out of the Chase.

NAPA's multimillion-dollar sponsorship defection from MWR at the end of the year is just the latest fallout from the team's attempt to manipulate a race to get Truex into NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. NAPA is Truex's primary sponsor and in the first year of a three-year extension announced last August. The deal ran through the 2015 season and is believed to be worth at least $15 million a year. With only nine races left this season, Waltrip asked Truex for more time to strike a deal for 2014 funding.

"If he came to me tomorrow and said, 'I got a deal to go do something,' then obviously I would not hold him back," Waltrip said. "I owe him a lot for his loyalty and his passion for our team. I wouldn't hold him back from doing something he wanted to do, but I'd like him to hang around so we can attract a sponsor and keep him in our cars."