Petty is talking merger

The economic turmoil buffeting NASCAR widened Thursday as one of the sport’s most venerable teams, Petty Enterprises, announced merger talks with the Gillett Evernham Motorsports team.

Petty also parted ways with former champion Bobby Labonte, who had driven the team’s famed No. 43 Dodge in NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup Series for the last three seasons.

The struggling Petty Enterprises team is co-owned by the legendary “King” Richard Petty. His family sold control of the business to the investment firm Boston Ventures this year in hopes of raising enough cash to stay competitive with better-funded NASCAR teams.

But as the economy worsened and corporate sponsors -- the lifeblood of NASCAR -- became harder to secure, Petty’s outlook didn’t improve.

Petty, 71, drove the No. 43 car to a record 200 victories in his storied career and remains one of NASCAR’s most popular figures among fans. But the team lapsed into mediocrity after he retired from driving in 1992 and hasn’t been to Victory Lane since 1999.

But the Petty team is still looking for a main sponsor for the No. 43 car to replace General Mills, which left after the NASCAR season ended last month, forcing Petty to let go of about 70 employees in recent weeks.

Now the team is talking merger with Gillett Evernham, another Dodge team whose drivers for 2009 are Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and Reed Sorenson.

NASCAR Cup teams are limited to four cars, so the merger probably would mean the end of Petty’s second car, the No. 45 Dodge, which had been driven mostly by Petty’s son, Kyle.

Kyle Petty, himself a veteran at 48, already has said publicly he’s looking for another ride for 2009.

If the merger talks fail, Petty Enterprises said, it would field only the No. 43 as a single-car team in 2009.

“Gillett Evernham Motorsports is a first-class team with great drivers, sponsors and management,” Petty Chief Executive David Zucker said in a statement. “We look forward to improved performance and maintaining the Richard Petty legacy, with the King front and center.”

A Petty-Gillett Evernham merger would step up a consolidation among NASCAR teams because of the weak economy.

Last month, for instance, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and the team of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates announced merger plans to stay competitive with such powerhouse teams as Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing.

That came a few months after Ganassi abruptly closed the team for his No. 40 car when he couldn’t find sponsorship for driver Dario Franchitti, a former Indianapolis 500 winner who has since returned to the IndyCar Series.

The major U.S. automakers’ economic woes have further raised the anxiety level in NASCAR.

As General Motors (Chevrolet), Ford and Chrysler (Dodge) seek federal aid, fears remain that the auto industry’s downturn could force the companies to further cut their spending in NASCAR.

“In over 15 years of racing in the Sprint Cup Series, I can’t remember a time when the sport’s landscape looks as it does today,” Labonte, 44, said in a statement.

Labonte, the 2000 Cup champion, has 21 series wins and 113 top-five finishes overall. The Texan said he’s looking to drive for another Cup team in 2009.

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james.peltz@latimes.com