Sirius XM NASCAR Radio’s Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody has learned that the #71 TRG Motorsports NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team will not return in 2012. Sources close to the team say TRG will announce later this week that it has shuttered its NASCAR operation and will compete only on the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2012. TRG finished 36th in Sprint Cup owner points last season, and would not have been a guaranteed starter for the season-opening Daytona 500. TRG Motorsports made a total of 106 starts since joining the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2009, with a pair of Top-10 finishes to its credit. Bobby Labonte claimed a 10th-place finish for the team at Talladega in the fall of 2009, while Mike Bliss finished ninth in the 2010 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. Team owner Kevin Buckler did not immediately return a call seeking comment today.(Sirius Speedway)(1-4-2012)
UPDATE: Buckler has suspended operations of his #71 Ford, which carried Andy Lally to series ‘ Rookie of the Year honors. TRG Motorsports made 106 starts from 2009-11 and scored two top-10 finishes. Buckler used 11 drivers in those three seasons, including 2000 Cup champion Bobby Labonte and former Truck Series champions Mike Skinner and Mike Bliss. ‘I want to be in Cup, but I want to be there with a proper program,’ Buckler said. ‘I don ‘t think the way the economy is right now and the amount of money required right now that a single-car team can make it as a good program. I don ‘t want to go without a good program.’ Buckler said he’s putting his NASCAR aspirations ‘on hold’ but hopes to return when he collects the right firepower. ‘I know what to do now,’ he said. ‘How many guys say, ‘I ‘m going NASCAR racing, ‘ then make it through the ranks and run Cup for three straight years? I feel very fortunate. I had some great partners that worked with me and backed me and we learned a lot. It was an expensive lesson that won ‘t go wasted. If somebody showed up with a check and wanted to go NASCAR racing, we ‘ve got a program for them.’ And so Buckler’s full attention has fallen back to GT road racing and his massive Porsche-based racing operation and extraordinary preparations needed to win the Rolex 24.’My enthusiasm for road racing has never waned,’ he said. ‘TRG Motorsports is still alive and well. We will continue to look for the right Cup opportunity and right partner. When that happens, we ‘re back in NASCAR.’(Daytona Beach News Journal)(1-9-2012)
