Michael Waltrip Racing has announced that it will stop functioning as a full-time team in 2016. This will likely cause the shutdown of the #15 and #55 Toyota teams in the Sprint Cup Series. Clint Bowyer, the driver of the #15, will be released at the end of the season, negating the contract extension he signed earlier in the season. The future of David Ragan, currently the driver of the #55, is uncertain as well. This comes two years after the team's #56 car reverted to a part-time team as the #66, affiliated with Jay Robinson, after Martin Truex Jr.'s release following NAPA's termination of sponsorship in the wake of Spingate. The #66 team has since been absorbed into the Premium Motorsports #62 team.
MWR, who went full-time in NASCAR's top series in 2007 and helped lanuch Toyota in the series, bought a stake in Chip Ganassi Racing through ownership partner Rob Kauffman. In 2008, there were unfounded rumors of a merger between MWR and CGR, then a Dodge team. CGR ultimately merged with Chevy team Dale Earnhardt Inc. A likely scenario with this case is that Bowyer and the #15 car could transfer to CGR as a Chevrolet, joining CGR's #1 and #42 cars. Another rumor has Bowyer going to HScott Motorsports to replace either Michael Annett or Justin Allgaier (who are reportedly working on contract extensions) or drive a third car for the team. Ragan could go back to Front Row Motorsports if Brett Moffitt is released from the #34 car.
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