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Robby Gordon's 2010 sponsorship in doubt

Saturday, November 14, 2009
(Updated 6:59 am)

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Robby Gordon says he has sponsorship for only the first eight races of next season and has run nearly one-third of this season without sponsorship, though he's kept company decals on his car in those races.

Gordon's comments come on the same day that the U.S. Army announced it has renewed its sponsorship with Ryan Newman's team but will be the primary sponsor for 15 races -- seven fewer points races as this year.

Also Carquest announced it will remain with Mark Martin and be a primary sponsor for eight races the next two seasons.

Carquest has been listed as the primary sponsor in five races this season.

Gordon is looking for any type of sponsors.

"We're set through March, which buys us time because it gives us the rest of the winter to sell and the first three months of next year to see where the economy is at," Gordon said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway.

One of Gordon's sponsors, Jim Beam, announced a couple of months ago it would not return to the sport after this season.

"Obviously are results are not the best," said Gordon, who has run a fulltime schedule with his own team since 2006.

"It's easy to go out there and blame the economy for everything, but if we ran better _ you see teams get sponsorship that win races."

Gordon is 34th in the driver standings. Other than a third-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600, he has not placed in the top 10 this season.

Asked if would have to lay off personnel after this season, Gordon said: "We're going to have to do some of that but everybody does that at the end of the year. That's the part we don't like."

FAST TIMES: Martin Truex Jr. earned his third pole of the season and fourth of his career Friday.

Truex won the pole with a lap of 135.120 mph. Kurt Busch, who won last weekend's race at Texas, will start second after a lap of 134.579 mph.

Points leader Jimmie Johnson is third after a lap of 134.454 mph. He's followed by Kasey Kahne (134.293 mph) and Denny Hamlin (134.228). Mark Martin, who enters Sunday's race 73-points behind Johnson for the points lead, starts 10th after a lap of 134.023 mph.

HORNADAY WIN TRUCKSSERIES: Ron Hornaday has won a NASCAR-record fourth Trucks Series championship with a fourth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway.

The 51-year-old Hornaday started Friday night's race with a 197-point lead over Matt Crafton and needed only to finish ahead of Crafton to lock up the title.

Hornaday did it by overcoming an early pit road penalty, giving him his first championship since 2007. Hornaday also won titles in 1996 and 1998, and finished second last season. Crafton, meanwhile, finished eighth.

The race was won by Kevin Harvick, owner of Hornaday's truck team. Kyle Busch finished second, snapping his streak of five wins in his last five series starts.

PIT STOPS: Jerry Nadeau, who suffered a head injury in a crash at Richmond in 2003 and has not competed in NASCAR since, was at the track Friday. He's trying to find funding for a Grand Am ride for next season. &ellipses; TRG Motorsports is scheduled to announce today its driver and a sponsor for next season. Foxsports.com, citing unidentified sources, reports that the team will keep Bobby Labonte for next year.

 

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com

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