NASCAR chairman Brian France said Sunday that the sanctioning body will become more aggressive about cutting costs in difficult economic times, but he gave few specifics about how the sanctioning body plans to do it. France said he and NASCAR president Mike Helton have met recently with executives for all four car manufacturers in the sport — General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota — to discuss the financial problems that are hurting each company. Teams are losing sponsorship, and some Sprint Cup operations may be forced to shut down if they fail to work out a merger with another organization. But France emphasized that NASCAR is not in position to offer any direct bailout. NASCAR teams are independent contractors, not franchises as in other professional sports league like the NFL or the NBA. But France said NASCAR officials are involved behind the scenes in trying to ensure the teams stay afloat. France emphasized that NASCAR won’t make dramatic changes because of the economic woes across the country.(ESPN) See the full transcript on Jayski.com – Transcript: Brian France at PIR.(11-10-2008)
