Smaller teams with less funding such as Petty Enterprises might be subject to bigger staff cuts. (Photo: Geoff Burke, Getty Images) » More Photos

Among the teams with sponsor issues, the personnel cuts predictably were much deeper. “Like most in the NASCAR (or virtually any) industry, Petty Enterprises is not immune to the current economic downturn,” said Mike Bartelli, chief marketing officer at Petty Enterprises. “During these tough times, we've had to make some very difficult decisions, including a reduction in staffing levels. As we look to become leaner and more efficient across our business, we've eliminated 30 staff positions. We regret that we had to eliminate any.”

A spokeswoman for Yates Racing said that team is making changes, too. “Yates Racing started with all new employees for the 2008 season from various teams and with a full season behind us, we have decided to re-group and re-assign some of those folks,” said Jessica Rohlik of Yates Racing, which could still end up running two cars next year, despite bringing Paul Menard and his Menards sponsorship from DEI for 2009.

Some smaller, single-car teams, including Wood Brothers Racing and Hall of Fame Racing, may be forced to cut to part-time schedules, which Furniture Row Racing already has announced it will do next year.

Depending on how some of those sponsor hunts pan out, the likely count of full-time Sprint Cup teams should be somewhere between 37 and 42, down substantially from the 47 full-time teams that began in 2007.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to