On Thursday, Tommy Baldwin, Jr., owner of Tommy Baldwin Racing, announced on his team’s Facebook page that it will no longer compete full-time in the Sprint Cup Series after Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400.
In addition, the team’s charter has been sold off. Baldwin did not note in his statement who the charter was sold to, but ESPN.com’s Bob Pockrass is reporting that the charter will go to Leavine Family Racing.
Leavine Family Racing has purchased the charter of Tommy Baldwin Racing. Leavine needed a charter b/c split with Circle Sport owner Joe Falk
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) November 17, 2016
For Baldwin, the move brings mixed emotions.
“For the past eight years we’ve shown up at every race, worked hard to compete at the top level and bring value to our sponsors,” Baldwin wrote. “I feel confident that we are moving on having accomplished that. There have been many teams like ours that have come and gone. I’m proud that we have been able to sustain ourselves from the very beginning.
“Over the years we have been fortunate enough to have a great group of people both in the shop and on the road. In this business, you are really defined by the people you employ and I’m grateful for everyone’s hard work.”
Tommy Baldwin Racing has made 391 starts in the Sprint Cup Series since making its debut in the 2009 Daytona 500 with Scott Riggs driving. The team never made it to Victory Lane, but did earn two third-place finishes, one with Dave Blaney at Talladega in 2011 and then with Regan Smith earlier this year in the rain-shortened Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway. Three of the team’s four top-10 finishes occurred in restrictor-plate races.
Twenty-five different drivers have driven for the team in Sprint Cup and 18 more in the XFINITY Series
While Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway will be the last one for the team as a full-time operation in Sprint Cup, the door is not necessarily closed on continuing to compete in some way, shape or form. For now, the team is focused on doing as well as it possibly can in Homestead. Afterward, Baldwin said he plans on sitting down and reflecting before making announcements about the team’s future.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.