Activision will be primary sponsor on Aric Almirola’s No. 8 car for the Daytona 500. The paint scheme will feature the World Tour logo and the graphics from the game’s packaging. In later races, the cars will feature upcoming Guitar Hero titles.

Activision is familiar with Chip Ganassi and Chip Ganassi Racing as last season, Activision’s Guitar Hero brand was featured on CGR’s No. 40, driven by Dario Franchitti, before that team was closed in the middle of the season.

Even before Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s highly publicized departure from DEI before last season, the team was struggling to remain competitive. While Martin Truex Jr. made the Chase in 2007, Jr. lost six engines and crashed out of races twice.

As if losing Jr. wasn’t enough, the team had a mediocre, at best, 2008 season with Truex Jr. receiving a 150-point penalty and conflicting reports as to whether Truex had re-signed with the team.

At the end of the season, Mark Martin left the team for Hendrick Motorsports, like Jr. Paul Menard left, taking his sponsor with him to Yates Racing. The US Army left the team for Stewart Haas Racing. Everyone was abandoning ship.

At Chip Ganassi Racing, things weren’t much better. The team shut the doors to its No. 40 team and driver Dario Franchitti due to a lack of sponsorship money.

The team also fired Jimmy Elledge, which seemed to upset Juan Pablo Montoya. And, Montoya, at one point, was rumored to be leaving the team, while Reed Sorenson left the team for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

When DEI and CGR merged to form EGR, they had Montoya, Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola under contract. They were missing a driver with a lot of NASCAR experience. They were missing a multiple race-winner. They were missing a veteran leader. In Labonte, they may have found all of that.

Labonte needs good equipment to be competitive, and EGR should be able to provide that. I know that the team has struggled, but some of that you have to put on its absentee owner, Teresa, who some say is not committed to winning.

Ganassi will be a presence at the track, and is committed to winning. He should be able to help keep the focus on on-track performance.

That, combined with Labonte’s leadership, should make any partnership a perfect match.

Michael Waltrip Racing, which has already lost UPS as a sponsor, has been struggling too. Aaron’s Rent re-signed with the team to sponsor David Reutimann’s car for half of next season. This team is trying to secure sponsorship for the rest of the season for that car.

So, the two teams could possibly merge next season. That would mean that the combined team would filed four cars, and Juan Pablo Montoya would drive a Toyota.

This move is not all too suprising. Many NASCAR teams are struggling financially, and with the economy in the state it is currently in, sponsors have to reevaluate if it is worth the cash to stay in the sport. Carmakers are reconsidering, as well.

Dodge pulled its factory support from the Craftsman Truck Series, and it is hard to believe that if things don’t improve for an extended period of time, they will stay in the Nationwide or Sprint Cup series.

With the exception of Kasey Kahne’s two victories, and Ryan Newman’s one, the team has struggled immensely, putting no cars in the Chase. Not to mention the fact that Dodge isn’t known for its small, fuel-efficient vehicles. The carmaker is struggling to attract consumers, which is why all other makes are beating it, in terms of sales.

So, in a year, if things haven’t fully recovered, I would question Dodge’s committment to the sport. I’m pretty sure Chip Ganassi Racing would be.

I always wondered how Michael Waltrip could afford a three car race team. He hasn’t exactly been raking in the dough with good finishes. He never signed a huge contract, though at Dale Earnhard Inc. he did win a few races. Still, he doesn’t seem to have that much money. I know NAPA, UPS, and Aaron’s Rent probably kick in a good portion of the money, but still. He doesn’t have Richard Childress, or Rick Hendrick money. So, a merger would make sense.

Franchitti drove Ganassi’s No. 40 Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series before the team was shut down due to a lack of sponsorship. Franchitti missed a few races because of an injury he sustained at the Nationwide race at Talladega Superspeedway. He also missed some races due to being outside of the top 35 in owner points.

Some believed that Franchitti was the frontrunner to replace Reed Sorenson, who is heading to Gillette Evernham Motorsports next season. Franchitti elected to return to IndyCar instead.

Franchitti said:

 I have really enjoyed this last season in stockcars and have not completely closed that chapter of my professional career but the opportunity that arose was just something I could not pass up.

Dan Weldon, the driver Franchitti will replace, agreed this week to a multiyear deal to return to Panther Racing, his first team, where he will drive the No. 4 car.

Keselowski, Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Cale Gale, and David Stremme rounded out the top 5.

Scott Wimmer, Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers and Steven Wallace finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Dario Franchitti (11th), Joey Logano (16th), Elliott Sadler (21st), David Ragan (25th), Denny Hamlin (36th), and Carl Edwards (37th).

Edwards blew a tire while he was under Sadler. He drifted up into Sadler, sending Sadler sideways into the wall and down the track. Edwards hit the wall, too.

A late mistake on pit road cost Busch. He had to return to pit road to recover a missing lugnut.

According to SceneDaily, NASCAR checked Roush Fenway Racing’s Fords of Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle; Joe Gibbs Racing’s Toyotas of Tony Stewart and Joey Logano; Braun Racing’s Toyota of Brian Vickers; JR Motorsports’ Chevys of Brad Keselowski and Mark Martin; Richard Childress Racing’s Chevy of Clint Bowyer, Phoenix Racing’s Chevy of Mike Bliss; and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dodge of Dario Franchitti.

This test came following a Nationwide series rule change in which NASCAR changed the size of the spacer used to restrict airflow in the engines to limit horsepower.

SceneDaily is reporting that Joe Gibbs Racing will be penalized for attempting to manipulate the throttle so that the dyno testing results would not be accurate.

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said:

What they did was not in effect during the race. They didn’t have an illegal part or engine during the race. They tried to do something involving a magnet so that we wouldn’t get a true reading on the dyno.

There will definitely be penalties coming.

For JGR’s part, spokesman Mike Arning said:

The parts and pieces that were on our cars [in the race] adhered to the rulebook. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

Danny Efland crashed on the white flag lap, ending the race and securing Carl Edwards’ victory.

Brian Vickers, finished second, Stewart finished third, and Mark Martin and Greg Biffle rounded out the top 5.

Mike Bliss, Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, Kelly Bires and Clint Bowyer finished sixth through 10 respectively.

Notables: Brad Keselowski (11th), Marcos Ambrose (12th), Dario Franchitti (13th), David Stremme (16th), Scott Wimmer (22nd), Kenny Wallace (30th), David Reutimann (34th), and David Ragan (36th). 

Clint Bowyer and David Reutimann were racing side-by-side in the top 5 when Bowyer drifted up and made contact with Reutimann. Reutimann gestured out the window at Bowyer. Shortly after the contact, Reutimann appeared to cut a tire and made hard contact with the wall. He finished 34th.

Bowyer suffered damage from the contact and began losing positions. He finished 10th.

Ambrose took the lead when both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton had to pit because they were out of fuel. Ambrose assumed the top spot and conserved enough fuel to make it to the checkered flag.

Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Dario Franchitti rounded out the top 5.

Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, David Ragan and Brad Coleman were the rest of the top 10.

Notables: Max Papis (11th), Ryan Newman (12th), Jeff Burton (14th), David Reutimann (15th), Robby Gordon (19th), Clint Bowyer (23rd), Carl Edwards (25th), Boris Said (27th), Jimmie Johnson (29th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (30th), Denny Hamlin (34th), and Sam Hornish Jr. (36th).

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running in the top 10 in the closing laps, when something broke on the car. He radioed that it might have been a sway bar or something in the rear end. He ended up finishing 30th.

Jimmie Johnson was contending for the lead in the closing laps, but ran out of fuel with five laps to go. Then, he was assessed a pit road speeding penalty and had to return to the pits to serve the penalty. He finished 29th.

Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch were fighting for the lead in the closing laps, when Busch, who was running second to Burton at the time, got into a corner a little too hot and made contact with Burton. Both spun but Busch went around once and was able to get going and assume the lead. 

As the other cars slowed due to a lot of smoke, Burton was able to get going and maintain second. He drove Busch down and moved him out of the way to resume the lead. Busch fell back a bit and ended up finishing second. Burton had to pit because he was short on fuel. He finished 14th.

On a restart, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth and others were racing for position going into turn 1. Edwards dove to the inside to pass Kenseth, but got in too hot and slid in front of Kenseth into Bowyer. Both spun and sustained moderate damage. Edwards and Bowyer had to pit to fix the damage. They finished 25th and 23rd respectively.

Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Brian Vickers, and David Reutimann rounded out the top 5.

Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, and Landon Cassill finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Jason Keller (14th), Carl Edwards (16th), Matt Kenseth (17th), Kevin Harvick (18th), Elliott Sadler (21st), David Stremme (23rd), Steve Wallace (24th), Dario Franchitti (26th), and Kenny Wallace (27th).

In a press release, Ganassi said:

This is a difficult decision for [co-owner] Felix [Sabates] and I that did not come without its share of anguish. In this tough business environment, continuing to run the car without proper funding has become increasingly difficult.

The team is considering its future plans for Franchitti, which could include finishing out the Nationwide season.

Ganassi’s other two teams, the No. 41, driven by Reed Sorenson, and the No. 42, driven by Juan Pablo Montoya, will remain full time in the season.

Ganassi said:

If I keep going I run the risk of dragging the other two teams down. I don’t want to do that. There’s no money. It makes no sense to be running this out of my pocket. I had to put a stop to it.

The decision to shut down the team also meant more than 70 layoffs at CGRFS.