Viva Motorsports has announced
that it will cease operations, effective this week. The team's showing at
Michigan International Speedway this past weekend will serve as its final
appearance in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Since making its NASCAR debut
in 2009, the team has competed in 13 Camping World Truck Series races and over
70 events in the Xfinity Series. This season, drivers Jeffrey Earnhardt,
Brandon Gdovic and Jamie Dick have driven the Viva Motorsports' machines, garnering
three Top-20 finishes with Earnhardt's 12th place showing at Bristol Motor
Speedway ranking as the team's best effort.
Owner Jamie Dick explained the
decision, saying, "It takes a tremendous level of commitment to compete at
this level of auto racing, especially when striving to get better on limited resources,
week in and week out. It has come to a point where my family and I cannot
continue to make the personal and financial commitments that this sport
requires. I have always been proud of the quality of race team we brought
to the track. Instead of lessening that quality, we decided to take a
step back from the sport.
"I want to thank the
whole NASCAR community for allowing me to be part of the family," said
Dick. "I want to thank our sponsors and our fans for all the support
through the years. But most of all, I want to thank the employees of Viva
Motorsports, both past and present, for making this team the best it could
be."
All team assets have been
purchased. The No. 55 will appear in a handful of races in the 2015 season
under new ownership.
A trend that will continue in this sport. So sad it has become driven by money more and more each year. Teams are equally if not more interested in what funds the driver of the car can bring to the team more then their actual skill driving a race car.
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