Richard Petty Motorsports’ Elliott Sadler will drive Ford at Talladega
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Friday, October 23, 2009
Richard Petty Motorsports' Elliott Sadler will race at Ford in next weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
David Griffin
NASCAR Scene
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Elliott Sadler will drive a Ford next week at Talladega Superspeedway, Richard Petty Motorsports Executive Vice President Robbie Loomis said Friday afternoon.
It will be the first time the Dodge-supported organization runs a Ford. RPM plans to merge with Yates Racing after the season and run Fords next year.
The car will have the “old” engine from Ford, which will debut its new FR9 next week in two Roush Fenway Racing cars. Sadler’s backup for the race also will be a Ford.
“We’re just trying to get a start for next year and getting one on the race track will be a good experience for us for sure,” Loomis said. “Elliott is definitely a proven guy and a great, quality driver, and it also gives us the benefit of also being able to help Kasey [Kahne] during the race.
“We’re excited about it. We’re looking forward to it. It’s just another step in the process.”
RPM’s AJ Allmendinger will drive a Ford in the Goodyear tire test Nov. 2-3 at Daytona International Speedway. There also could be one Ford among the four RPM drivers in other upcoming races, but Kasey Kahne, who is in the field for the Chase For The Sprint Cup, will always be in a Dodge, Loomis said.
“We could run it a little bit more towards the rest of the year,” Loomis said of the Ford option. “We want to get a look at different style race tracks.”
Loomis said he sees the planned merger with Yates still on track.
“In my mind, the deal is already done,” Loomis said. “It’s just trying to work through all the details of what makes sense to run an organization to be successful on the race track.”
As for Kahne, he had troubles with the new R6 Dodge engine in the first Chase race at New Hampshire and used the old Dodge engine until last week’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and he will use the new engine the rest of the season except at Talladega, Loomis said.
“The guys have made some really great gains on the Dodge engine,” Loomis said.
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