"Right now, the best survive and the best get the opportunities," says Wells. "With the multi-car operations growing and growing and growing--where you see five-car operations, three-car operations, and two-car teams that want to be three-car teams, teams that are successful and have a great resume--it makes it tougher for the single guys to jump from one to two. But all things said, when the economy recovers, and more importantly--most importantly for our team anyway--if our performance continues to meet expectations, then I'm hoping we can (add another car)."
Statistically, no team represents the perils of running a one-car operation more than Morgan-McClure Motorsports, based in Abingdon, Virginia. Owner Larry McClure started the team in 1983 and has run a single car every season since. Morgan-McClure fields the No. 4 Pontiacs, sponsored by Kodak in the longest-running primary sponsorship package currently in Winston Cup.
Positive interaction between...
Positive interaction between teammates is critical to the success of amulti-car team. Jeff Gordon, left, talks with teammate Jimmie Johnsonduring Johnson's three-victory rookie season in 2002.
Morgan-McClure won 14 times from 1990, when the team earned its first victory with driver Ernie Irvan, until 1998, when Bobby Hamilton put the No. 4 in victory lane at Martinsville. In between, Sterling Marlin won six times with McClure, including consecutive Daytona 500s in 1994 and '95. Marlin was third in points in '95. But Morgan-McClure has posted no wins since Hamilton's victory in '98. That's four complete seasons without a win, a timeline that parallels the emergence of multi-car teams.
"It is a tougher deal because you don't have the information coming in," McClure says of running one car. "You don't have anything to compare to except what you have yourself. That's probably the biggest and hardest thing to overcome with a one-car team. But having said that, all the emphasis on this race team is toward this one car and not split up between two cars.
"If you've got the sponsorship dollars and can afford to do a lot of private testing, and can afford to do a lot of R&D on your engines, you can win races. We had a single-car team this year to win Darlington. But if Hendrick breaks one motor a week in their four cars, or Childress, they don't think anything about it. But if Larry McClure breaks one engine a week, I would be out of business. So that paints a difficult picture for a single-car team, but, really, I don't think there are hurdles that a one-car team can't overcome."
The hurdles are numerous, nonetheless, and McClure says his team plans to run a second car at select races before the season is over.