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HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- These days, the only news about Richard Petty Motorsports has been bad news. When it comes to the franchise bearing the King's name, the talk is all about layoffs and lawsuits and a potential reorganization.
On Monday, some of the whispers bandied about in the Sprint Cup garage became reality when RPM released a statement confirming it was dropping from four cars to two next year.
A.J. ALLMENDINGER"Richard Petty Motorsports has completed its restructuring process and is now in the process of moving forward," Richard Petty said in the statement. "RPM will shift from running four cars to two in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and that is never an easy process for the people involved. Currently, we are concentrating on building two solid programs with A.J. Allmendinger behind the wheel of the No. 43 entry and Marcos Ambrose in the No. 9 Ford.
"We are very fortunate to have an extremely loyal family of partners and are looking forward to the future."
On Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, RPM produced a pair of top-five finishes that showed what the beleaguered organization might be capable of when the dust finally clears.
In his final race in RPM's No. 9 car, Aric Almirola finished fourth in South Florida to record his best result on NASCAR's premier series. His teammate Allmendinger was right behind him, notching a fifth-place result that was his best on an oval track this season. It's the first time RPM placed two cars in the top five of a Sprint Cup event since Paul Menard and Kasey Kahne did it at Atlanta in early March.
Back then, though, there wasn't the furor around the organization that there is now, to the point where many wondered if RPM would even have enough money to make it to the race track in the final few weeks of the season. All of which made Sunday's results extremely satisfying to the men behind the wheel.
"This team could have easily just fallen apart and started fighting and just [been] dismantled," Allmendinger said. "I just feel like we became stronger."
For Almirola, the result bettered his previous best Cup finish, which came at Bristol in early 2008, when he was driving the No. 8 car for Dale Earnhardt Inc. "No matter what's going on through all the turmoil and everything, they just dig hard," he said of the No. 9 team. "They're just racers. That's what's great about our sport. When you show up at the race track, it's easy to forget about that kind of stuff and try to win."
Almirola, who competed in all three national series races at Homestead and finished as runner-up for the Camping World Truck Series title, drove the final five events of this season for RPM, taking over the No. 9 car after Kahne left for Red Bull. Now he steps out of the vehicle and prepares to compete full time on the Nationwide Series next year for JR Motorsports.
It's a tough ride to give up. "Absolutely," he said. "I've been having fun the last few weeks running all three series. It's amazing how much you learn running all three series. Track time is unbelievable, how much it helps."
Allmendinger, who earlier this year signed an extension to continue to drive RPM's flagship No. 43 car, scored his best finish since a fourth-place result at Watkins Glen earlier this season. Now along with all the other remaining RPM employees, he waits for what could be a turbulent period for the reorganizing organization.
"At the shop, it's tough, especially for the guys," Allmendinger said. "It's tough for me, but that's no big deal. I'm OK. They're the ones who work the hardest, and they're the ones who have to be at the shop, and hear all the stuff, or not hear the stuff they're supposed to hear, all the stories on the Internet and on TV. And they have to fight through that and still have to work on these race cars. When we come to the race track, it's all business. ... We got to the race track, put the crap behind us, got to business. Had some good runs, had some struggles. But in the end, we've got something to build on."
At the same time, though, he also can't ignore anxieties about what the coming days may hold for his race team.
"I wouldn't say it's not on my mind," Allmendinger said. "At the same time, I feel a lot better from about a week and a half ago. If you had asked me a week and a half ago, I would have said, I have no clue, this could be the end. We had no clue. I think now, there are some answers that are going to come out. It might be a little worse before it gets better. I'm more confident that it's going to get better than get worse now."
And Sunday brought a glimpse of what may be possible, a ray of hope in an otherwise trying season. "When we figure this stuff out back at shop over the next couple of weeks," Allmendinger said, "this team is going to come back that much stronger having to go through this."
I'm totally okay with this- the other two teams were just anchors.
On Monday, some of the whispers bandied about in the Sprint Cup garage became reality when RPM released a statement confirming it was dropping from four cars to two next year.
A.J. ALLMENDINGER"Richard Petty Motorsports has completed its restructuring process and is now in the process of moving forward," Richard Petty said in the statement. "RPM will shift from running four cars to two in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and that is never an easy process for the people involved. Currently, we are concentrating on building two solid programs with A.J. Allmendinger behind the wheel of the No. 43 entry and Marcos Ambrose in the No. 9 Ford.
"We are very fortunate to have an extremely loyal family of partners and are looking forward to the future."
On Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, RPM produced a pair of top-five finishes that showed what the beleaguered organization might be capable of when the dust finally clears.
In his final race in RPM's No. 9 car, Aric Almirola finished fourth in South Florida to record his best result on NASCAR's premier series. His teammate Allmendinger was right behind him, notching a fifth-place result that was his best on an oval track this season. It's the first time RPM placed two cars in the top five of a Sprint Cup event since Paul Menard and Kasey Kahne did it at Atlanta in early March.
Back then, though, there wasn't the furor around the organization that there is now, to the point where many wondered if RPM would even have enough money to make it to the race track in the final few weeks of the season. All of which made Sunday's results extremely satisfying to the men behind the wheel.
"This team could have easily just fallen apart and started fighting and just [been] dismantled," Allmendinger said. "I just feel like we became stronger."
For Almirola, the result bettered his previous best Cup finish, which came at Bristol in early 2008, when he was driving the No. 8 car for Dale Earnhardt Inc. "No matter what's going on through all the turmoil and everything, they just dig hard," he said of the No. 9 team. "They're just racers. That's what's great about our sport. When you show up at the race track, it's easy to forget about that kind of stuff and try to win."
Almirola, who competed in all three national series races at Homestead and finished as runner-up for the Camping World Truck Series title, drove the final five events of this season for RPM, taking over the No. 9 car after Kahne left for Red Bull. Now he steps out of the vehicle and prepares to compete full time on the Nationwide Series next year for JR Motorsports.
It's a tough ride to give up. "Absolutely," he said. "I've been having fun the last few weeks running all three series. It's amazing how much you learn running all three series. Track time is unbelievable, how much it helps."
Allmendinger, who earlier this year signed an extension to continue to drive RPM's flagship No. 43 car, scored his best finish since a fourth-place result at Watkins Glen earlier this season. Now along with all the other remaining RPM employees, he waits for what could be a turbulent period for the reorganizing organization.
"At the shop, it's tough, especially for the guys," Allmendinger said. "It's tough for me, but that's no big deal. I'm OK. They're the ones who work the hardest, and they're the ones who have to be at the shop, and hear all the stuff, or not hear the stuff they're supposed to hear, all the stories on the Internet and on TV. And they have to fight through that and still have to work on these race cars. When we come to the race track, it's all business. ... We got to the race track, put the crap behind us, got to business. Had some good runs, had some struggles. But in the end, we've got something to build on."
At the same time, though, he also can't ignore anxieties about what the coming days may hold for his race team.
"I wouldn't say it's not on my mind," Allmendinger said. "At the same time, I feel a lot better from about a week and a half ago. If you had asked me a week and a half ago, I would have said, I have no clue, this could be the end. We had no clue. I think now, there are some answers that are going to come out. It might be a little worse before it gets better. I'm more confident that it's going to get better than get worse now."
And Sunday brought a glimpse of what may be possible, a ray of hope in an otherwise trying season. "When we figure this stuff out back at shop over the next couple of weeks," Allmendinger said, "this team is going to come back that much stronger having to go through this."
I'm totally okay with this- the other two teams were just anchors.
