DOVER, Del. - Martin Truex Jr. can scratch his team owner off the potential list of 2014 sponsors.
Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Rob Kauffman all but ruled out that he would fund the sponsor-strapped driver. NAPA Auto Parts announced early this month it was ending its multimillion-dollar sponsorship of MWR at the end of the year in the wake of the Richmond cheating scandal. Truex, who was stripped of his Chase spot, faces an uncertain future as he scrambles to find a new deal.
"I would say that's a relatively low probability," of sponsoring Truex, Kauffman said. "We could fill in a gap. We're working on all kinds of options."
Furniture Row Racing is in the mix for Truex after losing Kurt Busch to Stewart-Haas Racing. General manager Joe Garone said at Dover the organization had expressed interest in the veteran driver.
Kauffman, founder of the Fortress Investment Group and a racing enthusiast, saved MWR in 2007 when he bought into the organization and pumped in the cash Waltrip needed to stay afloat. Kauffman has answered the call at every level of Waltrip's plan to grow the organization into one of NASCAR's top teams.
Kauffman also founded RK Motors and has stepped in to fill occasional sponsorship holes in the past. He was at Dover Sunday and a NASCAR track for the first time since the scandal hit. He returned from overseas to get MWR reorganized.