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Sprint Cup
CUP: RPM May Finish Season
With a car on the pole and teams at the track, beleaguered Richard Petty Motorsports plans to finish season...
Richard Petty will serve as chairman of Richard Petty Motorsports and will be actively involved in overseeing day-to-day operations of the company. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Two weeks after its employees were told that their teams might not finish the season, the outlook at Richard Petty Motorsports appears a bit brighter.
An RPM car is on the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Texas and all four RPM teams are in the field and still racing.
Reiterating what he said two weeks ago, RPM Vice President of Competition Robbie Loomis said Saturday that the financially-strapped organization expects all four teams to run the final three races of the season.
The team got a boost Friday when Elliott Sadler won the pole for the AAA Texas 500.
“For Elliott to sit on the pole was as cool as can be. … It’s been a tough time on everybody obviously since Charlotte [last month],” Loomis said. “We’ll just continue to move forward every day. Those guys are doing their part. We’ve got to keep doing our part on the business side.
“It’s a tribute to the guys for keeping their heads down and working – drivers, too.”
The team has faced financial problems in the past few years but has survived by merging with Petty Enterprises and Yates Racing. Team managing partner George Gillett, who bought the team from Ray Evernham in 2007, defaulted on a $90 million loan earlier this year, but said the issue was technical in nature, meaning that he did not miss a payment but, rather, failed to meet terms of at least one covenant.
Gillett has sold the Montreal Canadiens hockey team and Liverpool soccer team in the past two years, and sources said he needed to sell the soccer team to meet his RPM obligations. The soccer team sold for a much lower price than Gillett expected.
RPM, which is co-owned by Evernham and Petty, is expected to scale back from four cars to two in 2011, with A J Allmendinger returning to the No. 43 and Marcos Ambrose coming from JTG Daugherty Racing to replace Kasey Kahne in the No. 9 car.
The crew for Ambrose likely will be assembled from a mix of current crewmen at RPM, which also fields cars for Paul Menard, who is leaving for Richard Childress Racing after this season.
“The roster has already been put together,” Loomis said. “Everyone knows we’re a four-car team currently and we’re working on laying out a plan to get to two cars [in 2011]. We’ve had a lot of talk about running a third car for the first five races from other interests. We’ve got the points for it.”
Loomis credited Allmendinger for talking to team members and keeping them motivated during the last few weeks. Petty, who owns a small interest in the team, is working on making sure the company remains stable for the rest of the year and beyond.
A variety of team owners and manufacturers have talked to Petty about making sure his iconic No. 43 remains on the track.
“Every car owner, every manufacturer has been behind Richard,” Loomis said. “Ford has been incredible. Jack Roush and his crowd and what they’ve done has been amazing. For Richard, it has been very rewarding through this time we’re going through to see everybody’s support.”
SceneDaily.com • Without NASCAR races, Dover Motorsports shuts down Gateway International Raceway
An RPM car is on the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Texas and all four RPM teams are in the field and still racing.
Reiterating what he said two weeks ago, RPM Vice President of Competition Robbie Loomis said Saturday that the financially-strapped organization expects all four teams to run the final three races of the season.
The team got a boost Friday when Elliott Sadler won the pole for the AAA Texas 500.
“For Elliott to sit on the pole was as cool as can be. … It’s been a tough time on everybody obviously since Charlotte [last month],” Loomis said. “We’ll just continue to move forward every day. Those guys are doing their part. We’ve got to keep doing our part on the business side.
“It’s a tribute to the guys for keeping their heads down and working – drivers, too.”
The team has faced financial problems in the past few years but has survived by merging with Petty Enterprises and Yates Racing. Team managing partner George Gillett, who bought the team from Ray Evernham in 2007, defaulted on a $90 million loan earlier this year, but said the issue was technical in nature, meaning that he did not miss a payment but, rather, failed to meet terms of at least one covenant.
Gillett has sold the Montreal Canadiens hockey team and Liverpool soccer team in the past two years, and sources said he needed to sell the soccer team to meet his RPM obligations. The soccer team sold for a much lower price than Gillett expected.
RPM, which is co-owned by Evernham and Petty, is expected to scale back from four cars to two in 2011, with A J Allmendinger returning to the No. 43 and Marcos Ambrose coming from JTG Daugherty Racing to replace Kasey Kahne in the No. 9 car.
The crew for Ambrose likely will be assembled from a mix of current crewmen at RPM, which also fields cars for Paul Menard, who is leaving for Richard Childress Racing after this season.
“The roster has already been put together,” Loomis said. “Everyone knows we’re a four-car team currently and we’re working on laying out a plan to get to two cars [in 2011]. We’ve had a lot of talk about running a third car for the first five races from other interests. We’ve got the points for it.”
Loomis credited Allmendinger for talking to team members and keeping them motivated during the last few weeks. Petty, who owns a small interest in the team, is working on making sure the company remains stable for the rest of the year and beyond.
A variety of team owners and manufacturers have talked to Petty about making sure his iconic No. 43 remains on the track.
“Every car owner, every manufacturer has been behind Richard,” Loomis said. “Ford has been incredible. Jack Roush and his crowd and what they’ve done has been amazing. For Richard, it has been very rewarding through this time we’re going through to see everybody’s support.”
SceneDaily.com • Without NASCAR races, Dover Motorsports shuts down Gateway International Raceway
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