The Perfect Storm, Vol. 2

There's been a constant stream of news out of Cornelius, N.C. today, and some of it was expected.

The fact that they will cut down from three teams to two was not unexpected, since NAPA pulled its sponsorship of MArtin Truex Jr.'s car come the end of the season. The fact that the team will be morphed into an R&D team that will run a partial schedule was sort of unexpected.

Truex and Chad Johnston were given the opportunity to job-hunt, and it is likely that Truex could be headed to the Chase-performing Furniture Row Chevrolet for next season.

Jeff Burton might be one of the drivers for the used-to-be-No. 56, since Michael Waltrip will drive it at Daytona next year.

That part was not announced, so it might not be Burton after all. We'll see.

The flux that the MWR universe has been amid since the closing laps at Richmond could still be the perfect storm that knocks the team off the NASCAR radar.

Losing $48 million in sponsorship over three years is a blow that would cripple Hendrick. Losing a sponsor like NAPA, and all the attendant unpleasantness, could yet kill the company.

You have to wonder how long Rob Kauffman will put up with all of this. He's a billionaire, yes, but you don't get to be a biliionaire by spending money with no return.

I have no knowledge that he's upset or looking to get out; I'm simply speculating at what point his thoughts might turn to that end.

I got to reading the Twittersphere today, and boy, is my old friend Ty Norris taking it in the neck. True, it was his voice on the radio that NASCAR chose to prosecute, and he was trying to do what all of us would do to make sure he got a second car in the Chase.

Don't blame him a bit for trying to work the finish to make sure Truex made it. I don't think he called the spin-that-wasn't-intentional, but he did order Vickers to pit road and Clint as well. 

If you don't have a go-to-hell plan in place at Richmond, you aren't working hard enough. They did, and executed it clumsily. Case closed.

Now that Brian Vickers is out for the rest of the season with another blood clot incident, I wonder how the atmosphere is going to be at MWR. It can't be good.