After the announced sale of Leavine Family Racing to Spire Motorsports, effective at the end of the 2020 NASCAR season, a second single-car NASCAR Cup Series team may go up for sale. With no sponsorship deals signed for 2021, team owner Bob Germain is considering options, including a possible sale of his Germain Racing team.
“At this time, anything is on the table. Germain Racing does not have a signed sponsorship contract for 2021, and Bob Germain is exploring conversations for a potential sale,” a statement from Germain Racing on Aug. 1 read.
Also, Germain Racing employees have been told to consider employment elsewhere, a TobyChristie.com report claimed, citing an anonymous source with the race team.
Geico Insurance has been a longtime primary sponsor of Germain’s #13 car, but the insurance company also became one of four premier sponsors of the Cup Series under NASCAR’s new sponsorship model for 2020. Geico will continue its relationship with NASCAR in 2021 but is ending its relationship with Germain Racing at the end of the 2020 season.
Germain Racing joined the Cup Series as a part-time team in 2009. Ty Dillon has driven the #13 Chevrolet for the team since 2017. Team team went full-time Cup racing in 2011 and added a second car, a #60, the same season. But Germain scaled back to a single-car team, fielding only the #13, in 2012. Although several drivers have driven for the team, Dillon is only its second full-time driver, following Casey Mears.
“The (NASCAR business) model is very tough right now for single-car teams,” Dillon said, as quoted in an NBC Sports article. “I’m hoping that NASCAR is going to change it and help on it. But it needs to change for one-car teams to be more successful that haven’t already been at the top level of the sport or have an incredible about of money to leapfrog into the top spot. If you don’t have three or four teams to spread the wealth with big name sponsors and a lot of money behind the effort, it’s just not a model that’s going to survive long term.”
Germain Racing has two top-five finishes, both fourth-place showings at Daytona International Speedway — one with Mears behind the wheel in 2014 and the other with Dillon last season.
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