Breaking news out of the Richard Petty Motorsports camp: fresh off their victory Sunday, RPM will be merging with Yates Racing. The resulting four-car team will be driving Fords and will race under the Richard Petty Motorsports name.
The new four-car team will include Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, AJ Allmendinger and Paul Menard. After all the permutations and mergers, the new RPM combines three teams: Petty Enterprises, the winningest team in NASCAR history with 268 Cup victories; Gillett Evernham Motorsports, with 15 victories; and Yates Racing, with 57 wins.
"This is a pretty big deal for us," Petty said. "We're thrilled to partner with Ford. We've talked with a lot of folks, but in the end it came down to the success the Gilletts and I think we can achieve with Ford Racing. Right now this deal is real new. There are lots of details still left to be ironed out so we don't have a lot of answers for anyone right now. We'll be working on all that in the coming days, weeks and months, but we do intend to have everything in place before the start of next season. I've won races with Ford and plan to again."
So it seems like we've got another team and set of drivers sewn up for 2010. However, the merger does leave hanging the question of what will happen to Jamie McMurray, long rumored to be possibly headed for Yates. But with the four-car max per team that goes into effect in 2010, there's no room for McMurray at RPM. Kahne and Allmendinger aren't going anywhere, and since Menard is sponsored by his father's store, that leaves only Sadler's seat -- possible but not exactly likely. Also up in the air is the fate of Reed Sorenson, who has driven the 43 to disappointing results this year; he currently sits in 28th place with only one top-10 finish.
In the end, this will provide some stability to four drivers and their crews. Kahne is obviously the star of the show -- on the track, that is -- and it will be interesting to see how well he wheels in a well-funded Ford.
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