Dodge?

[3wideinturn1]

I'm going to nitpick this one. FCA didn't 'lose' Penske, they dropped Roger and walked away.

Assuming any of this holds water, I can understand teams being reluctant to sign on after Dodge's relatively recent behavior, and asking for larger checks than they would have otherwise.

My understanding of the situation was that Penske did initiate the switch...Ford had been courting them for a while and Dodge was only willing to re-up on a 3 year deal, but Penske was looking for a 10 year commitment on any new manufacturer deal...Penske moved on with Ford and it left Dodge with no team and not nearly enough time or resources to attract another quality team in time to get the Gen 6 car off the ground, hence their exit...looking back it was a good move by Penske as they've continued to be an elite organization, and how laughable is a 3 yr manufacturer deal for an elite NASCAR team?

 

[mdh1776]

My understanding of the situation was that Penske did initiate the switch...Ford had been courting them for a while and Dodge was only willing to re-up on a 3 year deal, but Penske was looking for a 10 year commitment on any new manufacturer deal...Penske moved on with Ford and it left Dodge with no team and not nearly enough time or resources to attract another quality team in time to get the Gen 6 car off the ground, hence their exit...looking back it was a good move by Penske as they've continued to be an elite organization, and how laughable is a 3 yr manufacturer deal for an elite NASCAR team?

It makes sense if you're in a really bad financial position with loads of debt. They've been aggressively paying it back since. FCA intends to be debt free by 2019.