Even so, each of the first three races has had full, 36-truck fields -- and the same is expected this week at Martinsville.
"It truly is passion versus profit," said Tom DeLoach, owner of Red Horse Racing, fielding an unsponsored truck for reigning series champion Johnny Benson. "If you were in this trying to make money, you'd be better off stopping at the very beginning and you'd wind up with more profit. Your most profitable moment is just before you start."
The budget for a top truck team running the full 25-race schedule is estimated to be $2.5 million to $3 million.
"When you are spending money like that out of your own pocket, there is nothing that shows greater commitment to the sport," Benson said.
"It definitely affects us (drivers)," he added. "Not having sponsorship doesn't affect our level of competition because we are still going to do our best each weekend. But seeing other teams close their doors because of a lack of sponsorship makes everyone in the garage concerned. It makes you think it could happen to your team just as easily."
But most of the unsponsored teams keep hauling trucks to the track in hopes that one more strong performance will net them a name on their hood and quarterpanels.
"It's that optimism that right around the corner it's going to happen," DeLoach said. "You always believe the next play is the one that is going to make everything happen. The next time you step up to the plate, you'll hit a home run.
"Racing is no different than that. The next race you're going to win and someone is going to step up and say, 'I want to sponsor you for the rest of the season.' "
DeLoach said this is his third year racing without sponsorship.
"How long can you go before you say this doesn't make a whole lot of sense?" he asked. "I spent 30 years working for a corporation in various jobs and at no time would I have ever made these kinds of decisions in the business world. If you apply cold, hard business to it, this wouldn't work."
Few of the returning owners expected full fields beyond the season-opener in Daytona.
"I'm very impressed by the turnout we've had in the truck series this year," said Bob Germain, owner of truck series stalwart Germain Racing. "I thought at California (after Daytona) that the field would be in the 20s. The series is very healthy and everyone is committed to it."
One bright spot for everyone involved in the truck series has been the TV ratings on Speed.
The broadcast earlier this month from Atlanta scored a rating of 1.29 (943,000 households), peaking at 1.63 (1,197,000 households). That was a 23 percent increase over 2008.
Nineteen of 22 truck races on Speed last year saw ratings grow, 15 in double digits. Daytona's ratings were up 21 percent in February.
Those kind of numbers could eventually mean the difference for a company looking for a good marketing venue in tough times.
But, so far, there hasn't been much good news on the sponsorship front.
"We're beating on doors," DeLoach said. "We seem to get very close, but in today's environment, we don't get a 'no.' But until you get a 'yes,' it is a 'no.' There is no money in the bank. We keep trying to hang on long enough that we see some sort of turn and a company says 'Yes, we want to play.' "
Germain was notified unexpectedly late in December that Lumber Liquidators was not returning as sponsor for the No. 30 truck. The family run team, with former series champion Todd Bodine as its driver, has made the difficult decision to cease operations this season if they are unable to land a sponsor.
"Because of the business climate in our (auto dealership) business, we had a meeting last fall," Germain said. "The Germains have invested an awful lot in this race team because we love the sport and we're very competitive people. Our business is off in the realm of 50 percent. The automobile business is struggling right now in general and we said we can't, in the foreseeable future, continue to invest our money into the race team.
"Whatever we have as sponsored programs is what we'll run. As unbelievable as it is to say, if we don't find a sponsor for Todd, we probably won't run the truck, which is a shame because that 30 truck is the foundation of this whole team," he continued. "It's very emotional to think about not running."
The team, which finished first, second and third so far this season, will be at Martinsville only because Whelen Engineering stepped up as its primary -- and only -- sponsor for this week.
"I've made it my goal to get funding for the No. 30 team and I've been busy talking to people and I'm confident we're going to put something together," Germain said. "Doing it one race at a time isn't a lot of fun. We've had a lot of people say, 'We want to help Todd and you guys. What can we do?'
"I'm pretty optimistic that we're going to be OK. Under normal circumstances, when the car business is good, let's keep plugging away, but it's a struggle out there."
