Just two days into the NASCAR off-season and Roush-Fenway Racing appears to be in a deep hole for the 2017 season.
Greg Biffle announced his departure from the team on Monday, and now one of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s sponsors, Zest is leaving the team, while General Manager Robbie Reiser has been relieved of his duties.
Zest, who has sponsored the team since 2012, announced today via a Facebook post that they would be leaving the team while also saying they will “always cheer for the Roush Fenway Racing team.”
Zest isn’t the only sponsor that announced 2016 would be its final year with the company. Kellogg’s and Cheez-It announced in October they would also leave the team.
Reiser, who is most well known for leading Matt Kenseth to his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in 2003, was also informed that his services as general manager wouldn’t be needed. Reiser has been reportedly offered another position in the company.
With one esteemed driver leaving, along with yet another sponsor and now the general manager position empty, the future of Roush-Fenway looks bleaker by the day. Many rumors have the team downsizing to two full-time Sprint Cup teams next year with their XFINITY Series program scaling back to only one full-time car.
The company looks for a turn around going into 2017 after two winless seasons in the Sprint Cup Series since Carl Edwards’ last win for the organization in 2014.
