Can Richard Petty Motor Sports move forward?

The House of cards that has been Richard Petty Motor Sports looks to be collapsing. RPM released Kasey Kahne over an incident last Saturday night, but that may not be the whole reason, they may have owned him a lot of money and gave him his freedom in exchange for letting that money slide. This team also apparently had its cars and engines repossessed by Roush Fenway Racing and the Roush Yates engine shop today putting their immediate future in doubt.

RPM currently fields four teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, and those cars and engines are produced by Roush Fenway Racing and the Roush Yates Engine shop. Those assets were repossessed today likely due to non payment, and given the four cars they field RPM could own Roush and company millions of dollars. Roush has given the cars pack for Talladega nest week, but no word has emerged if they have gotten their engines back yet. Word has also leaked that many of Kahne’s crew members of the #9 car have been told they are no longer needed.

Richard Petty and the Petty name have been around NASCAR since its inception. However they have severally tarnished its reputation of late. They have fallen behind the current NASCAR times, and as of yet have been unable to catch back up. Kind of a weird thing to say about a team that won two races in 2009.

However they merger with Gillette who had bought out Ray Evernham has not produced many tangible results. They have now lost Kahne, were already set to downsize from four cars to two in 2011, and don’t seem to be able to keep their bills paid. Kind of weird for a team that has won nearly 15 million dollars in purse money this year alone. NASCAR is a costly sport, and this may well be the end of the Petty name in it.

Related Links:

•MTR Auto Racing
•Joshua Lobdell.com