Advance Auto Parts announced on Friday afternoon that their sponsorship of two-time NHRA Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon would end after the 2009 season.
A disappointed Pedregon reflected on the loss of his sponsorship which began in 2001.
“It’s been a great eight years,” Pedregon said. “The bottom line is that they are going in a different direction and that leaves me without a major sponsor. I have some things in the works but nothing confirmed yet. I’m cautiously optimistic.”
Pedregon captured the 2008 NHRA Funny Car title, his second since winning the 1992 crown. He reached eighteen final rounds during his Advance Auto Parts tenure.
“I will always look back at the Advance Auto Parts car, and as a company that took a chance on me … it wasn’t like I was a household name,” Pedregon said. “For all they knew I could have went broke in a year or two. We worked hard and had a few tough years where we sent bodies flying skyward but for the most part I had some great people work for me.”