Zastava_101

Penske switching to Ford in 2013: Penske Racing will in 2013 switch from Dodge to Ford in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, automotive-industry sources have informed Autoweek. An official announcement is expected midday Thursday. Penske fields Dodge Chargers for #2-Brad Keselowski and #22-A. J. Allmendinger. When Penske returned [too NASCAR] in 1991 he fielded Pontiacs through the 1994 season. He switched to Fords for the next eight seasons, 1995 through 2002, before forming his alliance with Dodge which reached nine years last season. All told, he's fielded 1,503 Cup entries, won 96 poles and 71 races. His cars have finished in the top-five 333 times and in the top-10 573 times. Penske Racing has never won a Cup championship but has been top-10 in final points 19 times. But Penske Racing has been in a mini slump of late. It has won at least one race every year since 1991 but has only 18 wins in 768 starts dating to 2004. The year before, Newman won eight races, more than half his NASCAR career total of 15. The Dodge years, beginning in 2003, are somewhat deceiving. Newman, in his second full year with Penske Racing, won eight races for Dodge in 2003, by far the brand's best NASCAR showing since its glory days with Richard Petty in the 1970s. Wallace won once in his next-to-last season of 2004, and Newman gave Dodge only three wins in his last four years with Penske. Kurt Busch won 10 times for Dodge in his six seasons with Penske Racing, and Keselowski has won three times.(AutoWeek)(3-1-2012)

codeman94

nice! Penske must like the new Fusion

Evil_Capri

Very interesting. I wonder who will be switching to Dodge?

2 Go Snake

I am surprised Penske din not switch back to Ford sooner. I guess he wanted to see how the FR9 engine worked out. Ford does appear to offer good support to the Ford teams. Currently, it looks like Ford is the leader in racing technology.

2 Go Snake

I am surprised Penske din not switch back to Ford sooner. I guess he wanted to see how the FR9 engine worked out. Ford does appear to offer good support to the Ford teams. Currently, it looks like Ford is the leader in racing technology.

Zastava_101

This leaves Robby Gordon Motorsport as the only Dodge team in 2013 and they will most likely switch to somebody else too. There have been rumors for a while that Dodge is planing to leave NASCAR.

I'm just glad AJ Allmendinger will be driving a Ford again, he's one of my favorite drivers.

Zastava_101

Penske switching to Ford in 2013: UPDATES: Penske Racing will in 2013 switch from Dodge to Ford in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, automotive-industry sources have informed Autoweek. An official announcement is expected midday Thursday. Penske fields Dodge Chargers for #2-Brad Keselowski and #22-A. J. Allmendinger. When Penske returned [too NASCAR] in 1991 he fielded Pontiacs through the 1994 season. He switched to Fords for the next eight seasons, 1995 through 2002, before forming his alliance with Dodge which reached nine years last season. All told, he's fielded 1,503 Cup entries, won 96 poles and 71 races. His cars have finished in the top-five 333 times and in the top-10 573 times. Penske Racing has never won a Cup championship but has been top-10 in final points 19 times. But Penske Racing has been in a mini slump of late. It has won at least one race every year since 1991 but has only 18 wins in 768 starts dating to 2004. The year before, Newman won eight races, more than half his NASCAR career total of 15. The Dodge years, beginning in 2003, are somewhat deceiving. Newman, in his second full year with Penske Racing, won eight races for Dodge in 2003, by far the brand's best NASCAR showing since its glory days with Richard Petty in the 1970s. Wallace won once in his next-to-last season of 2004, and Newman gave Dodge only three wins in his last four years with Penske. Kurt Busch won 10 times for Dodge in his six seasons with Penske Racing, and Keselowski has won three times.(AutoWeek)(3-1-2012)
UPDATE: Penske Racing is coming back to Ford. After a 10-year hiatus, Penske Racing returns its two-car NASCAR Sprint Cup operation to Ford Racing beginning with the 2013 Daytona 500, and if its latest term is anything like the most recent one, Ford fans will have plenty to cheer about. Penske Racing, recognized as one of racing's all-time great teams, most recently spent nine seasons with Ford from 1994-2002, posting 27 wins and 33 poles among three drivers. In addition, its teams finished in the Top 10 48.6 percent of the time (228-of-469 starts). The organization first raced with Ford in 1976 and 1977, before coming back in 1994. In total, through 524 NASCAR starts (509 Cup Series and 15 Nationwide Series) with Ford, Penske Racing teams earned 28 victories (27 Cup Series and one Nationwide Series) and 42 pole positions (36 Cup Series and six Nationwide Series). "This is an historic day for our racing program, and we are thrilled to see another member of the extended Ford family coming back," said Mark Fields, Ford's president of The Americas. "Working together with Penske Racing gives Ford another championship-level program, and we are excited to take our racing program to all-new levels." Added Roger Penske: "We look forward to joining the Ford Racing NASCAR program beginning in 2013. We appreciate the long-term commitment that Ford has made to Penske Racing and for their continued support of the sport."(Ford Racing)(3-1-2012)
Dodge Statement: In response to today's announcement by Penske Racing, Ralph Gilles, President and CEO  SRT Brand and Motorsports, offered the following statement: "Dodge has enjoyed a successful partnership with Penske Racing for 10 years. It's a partnership that has produced results for both parties on and off the track. Roger (Penske) has made a business decision to accept an offer with another manufacturer. We wish Roger and Penske Racing much success in the future. "We are committed to work with Penske Racing to compete at the highest level, win races and contend for championships this season. Our motorsports involvement isn't limited to NASCAR. We do value our NASCAR program and will be evaluating the opportunities available moving forward. As those opportunities materialize, we'll reveal our 2013 plans, not only in NASCAR but in other forms of motorsports."(Dodge PR)(3-1-2012)

Moosetang

Either Dodge is bailing or they've poached a big name from Chevy and they're keeping a lid on it. I'm leaning toward bailing at this point.

Evil_Capri

from jayski.com . . .

I find it hard to believe RPM would leave Ford. They wouldn't have Ambrose if they hadn't been a Ford Team. Of course I also thought the new Volvo would make it to the USA . . . and I was wrong about that . . .

Zastava_101

Roger Penske has explained that the decision to switch his NASCAR team from Dodge to Ford is so that it can directly compare itself to other frontline teams. Penske has been the leading Dodge outfit in recent years, but it has been left with very few other teams to compare with as the manufacturer's presence in the Sprint Cup field has slowly reduced.
"This was a very tough decision," said Penske. "When we weighed up the pluses and minuses of the opportunity, it was apparent to us that we need to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup and we have been trying to do it alone.
"Having the opportunity to benchmark with someone like [leading Ford team] Roush, who has been world class, we thought that it was time for us to evaluate our options."
Penske added that while the change appeared sudden from the outside, the decision to leave Dodge had been taken over a long period of time.
"This wasn't something that happened in the last 24 or 48 hours," he said. "It was over a few months.
"I think change is good. We cannot sit where we are. We've got to get better and from my perspective this opportunity only comes at certain times.
"Our contract [with Dodge] was up. We're not leaving ahead of time. I think this was a watershed time for us to take a good look in the rearview mirror and also look out front.
"We made this decision rationally, and it's one that we're excited about."


http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97792

Moosetang

RPM doesn't have the resources to be the flagship Dodge team. The only way that works is if Dodge buys RPM and spends the time/money to turn it back into the Factory Dodge team it was when Evernham ran it. Basically, they'd have to build a new flagship team from the ground up and slap Petty's name on it. Considering how Penske blind-sided 'em, I don't think Dodge has that sort of effort ready. If RPM moves to Dodge, its as a secondary team behind whatever big team Dodge is poaching from Toyota or Chevy.

2 Go Snake

It looks like Ford made the right move to get Penske to field Ford race cars. The two Penske drivers are frequently putting Ford race cars in victory lane lately. Brad and Joey are each making a good run for the championship in NASCAR.

Mustang Freak

Did Ford reach out to Penske? I wonder...

2 Go Snake

I was under the impression Ford wanted to strengthen its Sprint Cup program by bringing in Penske . Did you hear otherwise ?