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Pontiac pulls out of NASCAR, GM will back only Chevrolet in 2004

October 28, 2003

Pontiac is pulling out of NASCAR.

The manufacturer that won two of the last three Winston Cup championships announced Tuesday it won't return in 2004 -- leaving Chevrolet as the only General Motors brand on the stock car circuit.

Five full-time teams currently use Pontiacs, with Ricky Craven providing the only victory in 2003. In the manufacturer standings, Pontiac is a distant fourth, trailing leader Chevrolet by 127 points. Ford and Dodge also race in Winston Cup.

``The decision to withdraw from NASCAR was not an easy one,'' Lynn Myers, general manager of Pontiac-GMC, said in statement. ``Consistent with GM efforts to focus its racing programs, Chevrolet will carry the NASCAR banner while Pontiac can now devote resources to developing future racing and marketing programs.''

Pontiac won two of the past three Winston Cup championships, including Tony Stewart last season. Bobby Labonte did the trick in 2000.

But both of those Joe Gibbs Racing drivers switched to Chevrolet for 2003, and Stewart's run to the title was marred by his repeated complaints that Pontiac was aerodynamically inferior to the other three makes.

This year, Ford driver Matt Kenseth leads the standings by 258 points over Chevy driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Craven, Johnny Benson, Joe Nemechek, Kevin Lepage and Ward Burton drove Pontiacs in the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which finished Monday because of rain during the weekend.