Catchfence

The plants that build American passenger cars may be 75 miles away, but their influence is always felt at Michigan International Speedway. In many ways this is Detroit’s race track, a facility that attracts the attention of the domestic manufacturers involved in NASCAR, and a place where all of them want to win. Now, though, that intrinsic connection with the Motor City is being felt in different, less encouraging ways.

General Motors is cutting factory support for Chevrolet teams competing in the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series as the automaker restructures under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The plight of bankrupt General Motors hit NASCAR broadside Friday, when it became clear that the struggling carmaker was eliminating its financial support to teams that sport its Chevrolet brand in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series. The owners of Kevin Harvick Inc. and JR Motorsports both confirmed that funding to their organizations had been discontinued, and other teams braced for similar cuts.

“I have to keep racing, and we’ll keep racing General Motors products, for sure,” said Richard Childress, who fields a car on the Nationwide circuit, and plans to meet with GM officials next week. “They’ve been good to us for many, many, many years. We’ve had a great partnership, and we’ve just got to see what comes out of it. Everybody’s going through tough times right now. … You do what you’ve got to do to survive. If you want to keep racing, you do what you’ve got to do.”

Harvick, whose team fields competitive entries on both the Nationwide and Truck series — including the No. 33 truck of Ron Hornaday, second in points entering Saturday’s race at Michigan — confirmed in a statement that his organization had lost factory support, and would require some internal restructuring as a result. JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that funding to his single-car Nationwide entry had been pulled, and that he would try to make up the financial difference.

- NASCAR.com