Petty team's outsourcing may signal bigger changes
Sunday, Jun. 07, 2009
LONG POND, Pa. - Richard Petty Motorsports plans to farm out its five planned Nationwide Series races this season to a stand-alone Nationwide team, mostly likely Braun Racing, the Observer and ThatsRacin.com have learned.
RPM has five scheduled Nationwide races in 2009, the first with driver Elliott Sadler at New Hampshire, and is working on a deal to run the races out of another organization, sources said.
RPM spokesman Drew Brown said the organization had not made any decision on its Nationwide program, but expected to make an announcement within a couple weeks.
The decision would likely raise eyebrows about the Petty organization’s future with Dodge, particularly if the agreement is with Braun Racing, which uses Toyotas.
Dodge does not currently have any involvement in the Nationwide series, although Penske Racing fields a Nationwide program with Dodges on its own.
In an interview last weekend, RPM owner Richard Petty said cash flow from Dodge, due to the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was "in a holding pattern."
"We've got to figure is 'Where is Chrysler going to go? Where are we going to be next year?' " Petty said. "So we've got to start planning right how for how we come out in February at Daytona."
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