Tenured NASCAR Xfinity team on verge of shutdown

The future of JD Motorsports is in doubt.

According to a report in TobyChristie.com , team owner Johnny Davis notified a majority of employees on Monday morning that they were being laid off as they arrived for work at the race shop. The team later sold its No. 4 owner points to Alpha Prime Racing by the end of day as well.

Alpha Prime Racing will use those points for its No. 45 entry, which is now 36th in the owner standings and features JD Motorsports mainstay Garrett Smithley behind the wheel this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The report also states that JD Motorsports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 8 and owes a sum of $422,434.17 to its creditors that include American Express, ECR Engines, G-Force South and TriMaxx Graphics.

The team has competed in the second tier NASCAR division for parts of 27 different seasons as far vack as 1983. It has entered a total of 1,650 races and has recently launched the NASCAR careers of Ross Chastain and Ryan Preece, despite having modest resources and largely serving as a place for drivers with modest budgets to apply their crafts.

Smithley was set to drive the No. 6 car last weekend at Pocono but the hauler never left its Gaffney, South Carolina shop despite being prepared and ready to race. The No. 4 did make it to the track where Thomas Annunziata finished 28th.

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