TRG leaves NASCAR, focusing on GrandAm

The Racers Group finished 36th in the overall owner points last season while primarily fielding a car for NASCAR rookie Andy Lally. The team has annouced that they have no plans to run any races during the 2012 Sprint Cup season and intend to focus soley on Grand Am. During their time racing at the Sprint Cup level the team posted two top ten finishes in 106 starts.

Lally ran 30 events for the team in 2011 and won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year award. That did not spare a difficult breakup towards the seasons end that saw Lally on the sidelines while Mike Bliss ran the final event. Lally had an average finish of 30.8 last season.

While many drivers took turns behind the wheel of the TRG #71 drivers David Gilliland and Bobby Labonte are the only ones aside from Lally who made more then ten starts for the team.

Labonte also had difficulties while racing at TRG. The former series champion departed the team briefly when asked to perform as a start and park driver. Labonte would later run only full races for the team during the 2010 season.

TRG had ran Chevrolet cars during their first two seasons in NASCAR but switched to Ford early in the 2011 campaign.

As for Lally he will also head to Grand Am but will do so for Magnus Racing.

#71 team not returning in 2012?: 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)

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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