DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For the first time since Chip Ganassi started his team in 2001, his team's No. 40 hauler is not in the Sprint Cup garage this week at Daytona International Speedway.

The team ceased operation this week because of a lack of sponsorship. It was an outward example of flagging sponsorship money to one of NASCAR's most visible teams. It wasn't a fly-by-night operation, or a consistent underachiever being forced out this time.

And that news hit hard in the garage.

"I think it's certainly a wake-up call, you know, any of us are vulnerable," Jeff Gordon said. "You know, I would have never thought that they would have struggled getting sponsorship. I'm sure Chip Ganassi thought they wouldn't struggle getting sponsorship.

"It just makes you, you know, appreciate what you have, the sponsors that you have, and it makes you just work that much harder to try to stay competitive."

Coors Light had sponsored the car for years, but left the team prior to this season to become the official beer of NASCAR. Kevin Harvick said Wednesday that NASCAR has created a problem by competing with teams for sponsorship money. NASCAR spokesperson Ramsey Poston said in an e-mail yesterday: "There's not an issue. NASCAR constantly works with teams to help identify team sponsors and will continue to do so."

Rotating sponsorships have become the norm in NASCAR, with several companies taking over full sponsorship at different points in the season. Denny Hamlin, a Manchester High School graduate, is the only driver in the Sprint Cup garage with a single full-season sponsor that is not related to team ownership. Both Red Bull Racing drivers run Red Bull cars.

Hamlin was surprised not only by the news, but also by which team it affected. He said the 40 seemed like Ganassi's "baby."

The sponsorship money is getting tougher to come by with more cars in the garage and the economy in its current state. Hamlin said he benefits by working with only FedEx.

"It's easy for me because I know that I'm the face of FedEx racing," Hamlin said. "They don't have any other sport in which they just sponsor one person to represent them. . . . I know what my car looks like every week. I don't have to remember who's on my car or what have you."

For South Boston native Jeff Burton, it's the natural ebb and flow of the racing business. He remembers the days of just a few years ago when barely a full field would show up to try for the Daytona 500. Now, upward of 50 teams show up at times.

Burton says that kind of field can't sustain itself consistently.

"You know, we're at a point where, you know, the economy's down and less companies are going to be willing to make that investment," Burton said. "So that means you're gonna have less teams that are going to be able to be funded, so you'll have less teams here."

That storyline already began this week with the closing of the No. 40 and laying off of shop employees. Time will tell if it continues.