CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The glitz and glamour surrounding NASCAR's championship-deciding race roared on at Homestead-Miami Speedway as if nothing was amiss.
Lucky fans still lined up for their pre-race garage tours, celebrities and CEO's crowded pit road and the champagne flowed following Jimmie Johnson's record-tying third consecutive title.
Yet it felt a little flat.
Above all the pomp of Sunday's season-finale hung an air of uncertainty and, in some cases, sheer panic. Team members quietly passed around resumes, looking to latch on at stable organizations. Others worried that the checkered flag at the end of the race would also signify the end of a steady paycheck.
Mass layoffs are expected throughout the NASCAR this week, as team owners from all three national series adjust to the economic crisis. It's difficult to say how many will be put out of work, but some guess as many as 1,000 will lose their jobs.
The cutbacks are most evident at the top-level Sprint Cup Series, where layoffs began a mere two months into the season when BAM Racing stopped showing up at the track. Then Chip Ganassi let 71 people go when he cut down to two cars in July.
The numbers have steadily grown since, reaching all the way to the elite teams of NASCAR. Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing -- three teams that combined to grab nine of the 12 spots in the Chase for the championship -- have all gone through a round of layoffs in the past month.
It all paled to last Wednesday, when Dale Earnhardt Inc. gave pink slips to 116 employees so it could ease the way for a merger with Ganassi.
"It's gut-wrenching to make those decisions," DEI president Max Siegel said.
Several other teams will probably share that experience this week.
Sponsorship woes have put famed Petty Enterprises and the Wood Brothers on shaky ground, while the bottom might well be about to drop at Bill Davis Racing. The team won the Truck Series championship with Johnny Benson on Friday night, but the owner struggled to muster even a small celebratory smile.
"The entire economy, worldwide, is something that I don't think many of us ... certainly myself, has never seen in 40 years of business," Davis said.
People are angry and confused that after almost a decade of growth, the sport has turned so fast.
