Haas Carter Motorsports to shutdown? #26/66 team owner Travis Carter could close shop Monday, putting another driver, Joe Nemechek, into the Winston Cup unemployment pool. Todd Bodine, Mike Wallace, Kevin Lepage and Derrike Cope already are among the drivers seeking full-time rides. Bodine currently is talking with the [#92] Herzog-Jackson Motorsports BGN team. He probably will secure the ride when an announcement is made Monday. “Absolutely nothing this team did put themselves in this position,” Bodine said. “We all did our jobs. . . . Yeah, we probably could have done them better, but the performance has nothing to do with us not having a sponsor. Who would ever figure a corporation the size of Kmart would go bankrupt?” Carter is one of the most likable owners in the garage, a grass-roots guy who built a team from nothing and found a way to become competitive. Cutting people has been tough on the owner and is something he prefers not to talk about at all. He says he will know Monday the future of Nemechek’s group, but team members said the outlook isn’t good. “It about killed Travis to do it,” Bodine said of the layoffs. “He’s such a good person and cares so much about the people that work for him. It’s hurt him more to have these people not have jobs knowing they have families to support than it means to him to not have a race team. That’s just the kind of person Travis is.”(Richmond Times Dispatch)(3-9-2001)
