CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- First he was forced to lay off employees, now he's looking for investors for his team. Times are tough for car owner Andy Petree, still scrambling to keep his Winston Cup team afloat.

Petree let the word out last week that he'd be willing to take on a partner for his Winston Cup operation, which is still looking for sponsorship for the No. 55 Chevrolet with less than two months to go before the season-opening Daytona 500.

	First he was forced to lay off employees, now Andy Petree is looking for investors for his team.

It's as close to rock-bottom as it gets for the once thriving two-car operation.

"The last two years, we really haven't hit the right buttons when it comes to locking up long-term sponsorship,'' Petree said. "So I'm at a point where I'd like to have a partner that could help me with that side of the business, maybe has some ties to corporate America and relationships that I don't have.''

Petree fielded the No. 55 Chevrolet all of last season, and the No. 33 ran a limited schedule. Both cars ran full seasons in 2001 -- with each winning a race -- but sponsorship woes have crippled the operation.

Square D said it can no longer afford to run an entire schedule on the No. 55, but could put up about $3 million in associate sponsorship money.

So Petree lined up Ken Schrader to drive the car and tried to find another company to back the rest of the year. When he couldn't line anyone up, Petree had to let Square D out of its promise and is now back at square one.

After laying off 25 employees last month, Petree is hoping an outside investor can step in and keep things running. He has enough employees left to send Schrader to the Daytona 500, but more money will have to appear before he can plan for any more races.

"Letting people go was really hard, but it was at a point where we didn't have any commitments, no sponsorship, no schedule, nothing,'' Petree said. "It was the only choice I had.''

Petree, who won Winston Cup championships as Dale Earnhardt's crew chief in 1993 and 1994, became a car owner in late 1996 and fielded his first full entry with Schrader in 1997.

His cars have won races and been competitive, no small task for an owner who has mastered how to field teams on shoestring budgets.

But when Square D told him early this year it couldn't come back, Petree began negotiating with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to sell him part of the team.

The problem was, Jones wanted a winner immediately and was shopping through the Winston Cup garage for top-level drivers. When it became clear the likes of Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart weren't available, Petree said Jones' desire wavered.

"He didn't have enough enthusiasm about building this thing from the ground up, he wanted to start this thing at the top,'' Petree said. "There are no hard feelings, but it was getting so late and it became clear to me that we weren't going to get a deal done for '03 and I had to move on.

"Maybe we can still do something for '04, I'd still like to work with Jerry. But I had to cut talks off and move on to find something else.''

But waiting so long to come to that realization -- Petree announced in September there would be no deal -- put him in a deep hole with little time to dig himself out to secure solid funding for 2003.

"Looking back, it really was like a death sentence for us,'' Petree said. "With the economy where it is, it was just so late to start looking. We just really had all of our eggs in one basket with the Cowboys.''

NASCAR is doing its part to help, working with Petree to line up potential investors and helping him with his presentations. It's left Petree optimistic that things might still work out.

"I don't think anyone disputes that we have a strong program here,'' he said. "Someone who can come in as an investor and help us bring the final part of the sponsorship situation together is going to find tremendous rewards.''