Smaller teams in NASCAR fight two races. One is the actual race, and the other is just to make it there. Garage 66 learned that the hard way after sponsorship issues ended its Chicagoland plans.

Garage 66 has been forced to withdraw from the Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway after failing to secure sponsorship for its No. 66 Ford, bringing an abrupt end to what was set to be Josh Bilicki's latest appearance with the team.

The Carl Long-owned organization announced the decision on social media, confirming that financial constraints are the reason behind its absence from the July 4th weekend.

“Unfortunately, Carl had to make the call to withdraw Garage 66 from this weekend's race at Chicagoland due to lack of sponsorship. We are sad to miss out on NASCAR's July 4th weekend, but we look forward to the No. 66 returning very soon!”

The news comes barely days after the team publicly appealed for sponsorship on social media. As recently as June 30, the team had been seeking a primary partner in hopes of making the trip to Chicagoland.

However, those efforts never materialized. The withdrawal also reduces the Cup Series entry list from 39 cars to 38.

Garage 66 has made eight Cup Series starts so far this season with a rotating lineup of drivers. If they were appearing at Chicagoland, it would have been Josh Bilicki’s second appearance with the team this season. 

Cases where teams failed to get off the ground

The Bradley Wilson Team had announced its participation in the Truck Series, with intentions to join the grid by 2024 or early 2025. The team had announced it was looking for sponsors in a post on Facebook. Running on the Toyota Tundra, the truck liveries featured fonts and numbers from Kyle Busch Motorsports. 

However, little was heard from the team afterwards, and they failed to make the grid due to a lack of sponsorship. 

Back in 2011, a new team called America’s Race Team was formed. It was basically a project that attempted a crowd-funded ownership model.

According to Wikipedia, fans could pay anywhere between USD 44.95 and USD 1,999.95 to own parts of the team. However, the business model failed to generate any capital for the Daytona 500, and as a result, they did not attempt to appear in any races. 

There was also Team Stange Racing, which had ambitiously announced participation in the 2022 season across the Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series. However, while it was not approved for the Xfinity series that season, the reason for it not appearing in the other two series remains unclear. 

Read more at RFK Racing Digest 

Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason