Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates has been among the top NASCAR Sprint Cup teams in recent years. It has employed big-name drivers, enjoyed the respect of its fellow competitors and was competitive on the racetrack.</p><p>But earlier this year, Ganassi sent a shock wave through NASCAR when it was forced to send one of its three cars to the garage and lay off a driver and scores of team members because of a lack of sponsorship.</p><p>What ensued was a fired-up debate about the state of auto racing in these times of economic chaos.</p><p>If Ganassi couldn&#8217;t find sponsorship &#8212; sponsorship for a car driven by 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti &#8212; what is the future, some wonder, of NASCAR?</p><p>The prevailing view seems to be that the future looks challenging on the car sponsorship front, but far from lethal.</p><p>Asked whether panic had set in at his team, Steve Lauletta, president of Chip Ganassi Racing, said: &#8220;Exactly the opposite. We feel good about where we are.&#8221;</p><p>The Sprint Cup series has had no problem filling race fields this season. The race Sunday at Kansas Speedway, for example, has 45 cars currently entered, and there are only 43 spots available.</p><p>The 45 is not a big number, but the farther races move from the Southeastern base of NASCAR, the entry lists tend to get smaller. All have some form of sponsorship.</p><p>Ask NASCAR about the loss of some sponsors &#8212; and there have been several of the big-name variety who have left &#8212; and they will point out that new sponsors have come in to offset the losses.</p><p>It has always been that way.</p><p>Lauletta said the game of landing sponsorship deals has changed in one respect. Potential sponsors now take much closer looks at what their money is buying, and it now takes much longer for them to make decisions.</p><p>&#8220;What used to take four to six months to decide, now takes 18 to 24 months,&#8221; Lauletta said.</p><p>He said that had an effect on the Franchitti situation. He said he and his team should have had more irons in the fire for the sponsorship of the car.</p><p>&#8220;We were a little less aggressive than we should have been in developing that relationship (with potential sponsors),&#8221; Lauletta said.</p><p>One thing that has not changed when it comes to landing sponsorship is on-track performance. The economy has very little to do with that factor.</p><p>Geoff Smith, president of Roush Fenway Racing, which has five cars and sponsors for all of them, says winning solves a lot of economic headaches for teams.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s always been about who had the money, and it takes performance to get money,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;We know that and Rick Hendrick knows that because look at all the money it took to buy Dale Earnhardt Jr., to buy Tony Stewart, to buy Ryan Newman (both of whom will be with a team with strong ties to Hendrick Motorsports, Stewart Haas Racing, next year). Joe Gibbs is the same.&#8221;</p><p>Smith says a good example of that is the team with which Roush Fenway is associated &#8212; Yates Racing. That team started the season with two young, lesser-known drivers &#8212; David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil &#8212; but large gaps in sponsorship.</p><p>Both drivers have shown improvement during the season, but neither has won a race and, while some sponsorship has developed, gaps still exist.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the same situation that they have proven themselves competent to be competitive on the racetrack, and if we could have broken through and shown they have blue-sky Chase potential, that they would be sponsored already,&#8221; Smith said.