ESPN Sprint Cup

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Automakers fret over resale values. Chrysler sells assets to raise cash. Ford lays off 300 from Romeo Engine. Toyota profits plunge. General Motors stock prices fall 15 percent.

Headlines in the automotive industry don't paint a pretty picture these days.

Detroit's Big Three -- General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler -- have cut more than 100,000 jobs since 2006 to offset billions in losses and their steadily declining market share due to rising gas prices and an overall down economy.

A Merrill Lynch analyst issued a report last month saying "bankruptcy is not impossible" for GM if the overall market continues to deteriorate.

And Toyota recently reported a 38.9 percent drop in operating profit.

But amongst the gloom and doom the manufacturers remain committed to NASCAR, which showcases the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series this weekend in the hub of the automotive world at Michigan International Speedway.

While the days of win on Sunday and sell on Monday, no longer exist, top executives at Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Dodge still believe racing is vital to its marketing.

They still believe it's as important to beat each other on the track as it is in the showroom.

"It's win on Sunday, please consider us when you're in the market for a car six months from now," said Kevin Kennedy, Ford Racing Technology's communications manager.

In many ways the manufacturers play a bigger role in the sport than ever. They no longer simply supply parts and pieces as they did 20 years ago. They are more actively involved in engineering and innovation.

They are helping teams do a better job of consolidating resources to save money and improve the product. They are working with the governing body to come up with alternative fuel options.

And they are offering financial support like never before.

"There was a time when I first started when the contribution that the manufacturers had to the race teams was less than 5 percent of the revenue, and today it's north of 10 percent," said Jack Roush, the co-owner of Ford-supported Roush Fenway Racing that has consolidated its efforts with Yates Racing.

Seldom if ever, does NASCAR make a decision without the manufacturer's input, particularly since the governing body began its safety push following the 2001 death of Dale Earnhardt.

"That sort of brought NASCAR and the manufacturers together," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said. "We've also had discussions with them regarding alternate fuel sources.

"The relationship definitely has changed for the better."

Lee White, the president and general manager of Toyota Racing Development, said the same reason Chrysler and others returned to the sport is the same reason Toyota got into it four years ago in the Truck Series and last season in Cup and Nationwide.

"Those companies wouldn't have done that if it wasn't the fact that NASCAR has done such a great job of getting themselves out in front of the public and building a fan base and making this deal entertainment," he said.

"I would see [any of the manufacturers] cutting other promotional activities before they would really have a significant effect on NASCAR activity. ... It's important to be seen as a winner."

It's also important to sell cars, which is why the manufacturers first became involved, and why they use NASCAR when introducing new models.

Kennedy said nine years of research reveals that 56 percent of the Ford owner base classifies itself as a race fan. In terms of purchase consideration, he said the race fan is twice as likely to consider purchasing a Ford as the general population.

He added that the racing community buys twice as many vehicles than the general public.

"So it's a really important market," Kennedy said. "We feel strongly there is a good return on this."

White said he would be shocked if any of the four manufacturers pulled out of NASCAR because of tough economic times that have seen tracks such as MIS that typically sell out, struggle to fill seats.

John Middlebrook, the vice president for Global sales and marketing for General Motors, said earlier in the year that "the last racing we would drop would be NASCAR, [because it's] still the best return for us."

Les Unger, the national motorsports marketing manager for Toyota, agreed.

"You still want to generate maximum exposure for the expenditures you make," he said. "And NASCAR ranks pretty high in that."

"I get this"
White recently took Yuki Funo, the president and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales, on a tour of the motorsports industry in the Charlotte, N.C., area.

"After two days he said, 'I get this. This is good business. You have my word we will be here for more than 100 years,'" White said.

Unlike other forms of motorsports with which White has been involved, he doesn't feel the pressure to sell the importance of NASCAR to top management.

He recalled how in 2000 he and others at Toyota involved in open-wheel racing "seriously had to question whether our jobs would be around in three or four years."

He also recalled how a large Nissan performance company in California with great facilities and big-time involvement in sports car racing had a management change and "somebody looked over there and said, 'You know what, we don't see the return in investment. Shut her down.'"

White has no such fear in NASCAR.

"That doesn't mean we can be frivolous or stupid," he said. "But we have no doubt that Toyota, as long as NASCAR is popular, as long as it has its fan base, will be here."

The same goes for Chrysler, which seems to be rumored weekly on its way out.

"We believe in the marketing value of the sport and the awareness it provides for the Dodge brand," said Mike Accavitti, the director of Dodge and SRT global marketing.

But not everybody in the big three accepted Toyota right away. Roush was the most outspoken, saying the Japan-based company would "upset the established equilibrium" and put the other manufacturers in a catch-up scenario with its big spending.

"If we're forced, based on the fact that we can't be competitive or that their consumers won't buy as many things from our manufacturers and our workers as we buy from theirs, well, then there's a train wreck coming," Roush said before the first Toyota truck took the track in 2004.

Roush hasn't softened his tone with Toyota winning nine of this season's first 22 races, including eight by points leader Kyle Busch.

He's not the only one concerned, though. Kennedy contends that Toyota's involvement in NASCAR has made economic times even tougher for the other three manufacturers by raising the cost of competition.

"Our concern with Toyota or anybody else coming in was do they up the cost so much that you can't get a return on the investment," Kennedy said. "If you keep raising the costs and the rest of the equation, the TV ratings and amount of fans you can reach, if that doesn't go up with the investment, then it's harder to get a return."

Manufacturers constantly are referring to ROI, or return on investment. So far, most agree, the return remains good.

"It does drive up the costs of the sport," said Mark Kent, the director of GM Racing. "But historically, as we've seen in other area, it does stabilize. This seems to be fairly stable today."

Not spectators
Representatives from all four manufacturers were sitting in a room with NASCAR officials involved in developing the Car of Tomorrow three years ago when one pulled out a 24-inch scale model of a Mercedes German touring car featuring a front-end splitter.

"He sat it down on the table and said, 'You need a splitter just like that,'" White recalled. "To suggest NASCAR came up with that totally on its own in a vacuum is totally false.

"All four manufacturers were full participants. They weren't decision-makers, but they were certainly there helping with suggestions."

Many suggestions surround making cars on the track look more like those in the showroom to help sales.

"We all want more identity," Kennedy said. "That will be a battle we will continue to have, but it's not a contentious battle. We have very open and honest discussion about it."

Both sides have learned from experience that it's best to work together. That wasn't the case in the mid-'60s when Chrysler withdrew its support because NASCAR banned the hemi because it wasn't a production engine for a passenger car.

Hunter recalled another time when NASCAR had to send a team to Detroit to make sure a manufacturer was producing at least 500 -- the minimum for eligibility -- of a car it wanted to race.

"That was not a very good experience," he said.

Hunter also remembered how in the 1950s the Automobile Manufacturers Association declared no manufacturer would participate in motorsports.

J.D. Gibbs, the president of Joe Gibbs Racing, can't imagine what the sport would be like without that support.

"We just can't afford to do some of the things GM, Toyota, Dodge and Ford can do," said Gibbs, whose organization switched from GM to Toyota this season. "They help us do things we can't do ourselves."

Roush said without Ford's help in updating data for the new car there's no way his team could be as competitive as it is.

TRD is upping the game for the other manufacturers with its new 35,000-square-foot engineering center that will open in Salisbury, N.C., in September. The facility will have all the latest tools, including a new advance corner simulator that White says is the only one of its kind.

"And our company has lost a whopping number in terms of sales," White said. "For that foundation I am eternally grateful to the company, but it's not a pretty sight for us, either. We are having to watch our nickels and dimes and pennies just as stringent as anybody out there."

Great testament
Terry Dolan had a big smile last month when Tony Stewart announced he was leaving JGR and Toyota after this season to come back to Chevrolet. The marketing manager for Chevrolet Racing was smiling big again on Friday as Ryan Newman announced he is leaving Dodge to join Stewart.

The competition to win goes beyond the track. It also involves the driver, who plays a bigger role than ever in fans identifying with manufacturers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans, for example, are more likely to drive Chevrolets. Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards fans are more likely to drive Fords.

"It was really important to get Carl and Biff re-signed," Kennedy said. "Jack had that priority and we felt very strongly about that. We feel very strongly that we have three guys [including Matt Kenseth] that can contend for the championship.

"Do we have anybody as popular as Dale Earnhardt Jr.? No. But there are only a couple of those guys around."

The men behind the wheel have gone from a face at the track to stars and co-stars of television commercials for manufacturers as well as sponsors.

Some, such as Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon, have become a part of mainstream America. Earnhardt has been in several music videos and has his own television show, "Back In the Day." Gordon appears as a guest host on "Live with Regis and Kelly" a handful of times a year and has hosted "Saturday Night Live."

"From the marketing side, if you look back over 10 years, things have changed significantly," Dolan said.

But the bottom line remains to sell cars, and the drivers are aware of the struggles the manufacturers face.

"I see it tough for the manufacturers to validate what's going on in motorsports and have it apply to everyday cars and trying to sell those cars on the market," two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson said.

"Their support is extremely important to our success and race team. It's something we can't do without."

Gibbs is encouraged that through these tough times there haven't been significant manufacturer cuts to his or any team. The only cutback has been by Chevrolet, which announced it wouldn't renew track sponsorship deals.

"They could easily cut back from NASCAR and say we're going to invest somewhere else or not invest at all," Gibbs said. "Seeing them still be a part of this is a great testament to NASCAR and its fan base. They know the people are buying their vehicles."

If not on Monday, then six months from now.

David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.