Associated Press

Martin Truex Jr., won the pole position for Sunday's Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Truex circled the track at 135.120 mph.

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Robby Gordon says he has sponsorship for only the first eight races of next season and admits he's run nearly one-third of this season without sponsorship although he's kept company decals on his car in those races.

Gordon's comments come on the same day that the U.S. Army announced it has renewed its sponsorship with Ryan Newman's team but will be the primary sponsor for 15 races -- seven fewer points races than this year. Also, Carquest announced that it will remain with Mark Martin and be a primary sponsor for eight races the next two seasons. Carquest has been listed as the primary sponsor in five races this season.

Gordon is looking for any type of sponsors.

"We're set through March, which buys us time because it gives us the rest of the winter to sell and the first three months of next year to see where the economy is at,'' Gordon said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway.

One of Gordon's sponsors, Jim Beam, announced a couple of months ago it would not return to the sport after this season.

"Obviously our results are not the best,'' said Gordon, who has run a full-time schedule with his own team since 2006. "It's easy to go out there and blame the economy for everything, but if we ran better, you see teams get sponsorship that win races.''

Gordon is 34th in the driver standings. Other than a third-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600, he has not placed in the top 10 this season.

Asked if would have to lay off personnel after this season, Gordon said: "We're going to have to do some of that, but everybody does that at the end of the year. That's the part we don't like.''

Gordon has been searching for money all season and says he's been funding some races himself even though he kept sponsor decals on races instead of having a blank car. Among the tracks Gordon did not sell sponsorship for this season were both races at Martinsville, Richmond, Dover, Pocono, Fontana, Calif., and one race at Michigan.

Fast times

Martin Truex Jr. earned his third pole of the season and fourth of his career Friday.

Truex won the pole with a lap of 135.120 mph. Kurt Busch, who won last weekend's race at Texas, will start second after a lap of 134.579 mph.

Points leader Jimmie Johnson is third after a lap of 134.454 mph. He's followed by Kasey Kahne (134.293 mph) and Denny Hamlin (134.228). Mark Martin, who enters Sunday's race 73-points behind Johnson for the points lead, starts 10th after a lap of 134.023 mph.

Speaking up

Hamlin is one of the Cup drivers who uses Twitter and has expressed frank comments about competitors and NASCAR recently. He also uses it to gauge what fans think about certain aspects of the sport.

"I think those fans deserve to be heard,'' he said. "They weren't happy, as much as you can try to brush it under the table, they didn't like what happened at Talladega by any means. I was just kind of agreeing with them. A lot of people just kind of agree with NASCAR just because they don't want to get in trouble with NASCAR, but the truth is the truth.''

Pit stops

Jerry Nadeau, who suffered a head injury in a crash at Richmond in 2003 and has not competed in NASCAR since, was at the track Friday. He's trying to find funding for a Grand Am ride for next season. ... TRG Motorsports is scheduled to announce today its driver and a sponsor for next season. FoxSports.com, citing unidentified sources, reports that the team will keep Bobby Labonte next year.