Concord, N.C. (August 11, 2010) - Richard Petty Motorsports issued today the following statement in regards to the announcement that Paul Menard, driver of the No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion, will depart the team in 2011.
"We have enjoyed having Paul Menard and the Menard family as a part of the Richard Petty Motorsports team this season," said NASCAR Hall of Famer and team owner Richard Petty.
"Paul is in the middle of his best season of competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and we feel like our strong commitment to him and that team in addition to the great support from Ford Racing has been a major part of that," added Foster Gillett, managing partner and team owner. "With 14 races to go, we expect the No. 98 team to finish just as strong as it started this year."
2 comments:
One must wonder what is not good at RPM, that such talent is leaving them. Granted, Kahne has been a 'chaser' before and won't be again this year, but Menard is having a career year, and I'd think might want to maintain consistency.
NASCAR is going to suffer if the free agency thing gets too big. Like the 'major' sports, it seems that teamwork and chemistry is key to any driver having success. These guys seem like they're chasing money or trying to get their spot on the "winning" owner's organization (Hendrick, Childress).
Kurt Busch's comments about Hendrick's "pretty boys" and the fact that he "wasn't chosen" for the 5 car speaks volumes about what every driver wants, especially given the successes the 2 has had this year.
I think that the general confusion left their drivers wondering who was in charge. Nobody seemed to step up to the plate as the "go-to" guy at RPM. Who did the drivers consult if they had a problem? There were just too many people involved at the top and none of them put their name on the door letting everyone know that they were in charge.
Marcus Ambrose was just signed with RPM to drive the #9 car less than 2 weeks after dropping the #47 car as is ride for 2011 and beyond. He now has Stanley Tools as his primary sponsor who used to sponsor the #19 car of Elliott Sadler.
With AJ Allmendinger and Marcose Ambrose in place I think that RMP will be okay for some time to come.
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