Richard Petty Motorsports driver A J Allmendinger will be switching from Dodge to Ford for the final three races of the season. This is advance work for 2010 when the team will run Ford full time following their soon to be completed merger with Yates Racing. The team fielded a Ford Fusion last Sunday at Talladega, with driver Elliot Sadler, with some very encouraging results.
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Also reported in recent days was the announcement that Brad Keselowski will be officially taking over the Roger Penske Racing #12 Dodge this weekend for the final three races replacing David Stremme. Keselowski was already named as the driver of the ride beginning in 2010. Apparently Penske felt this was an opportunity to get a head start on next season.
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An announcement is expected very soon that says Jamie McMurray will be officially named as the new driver of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s #1 Chevrolet for 2010 replacing the soon to be departed Martin Truex Jr.
But there are some rather interesting undercurrents to this story. First off, the contracts between McMurray and EGR as well as contracts between EGR and primary sponsor Bass Pro Shops has been completed for quite some time now yet they still remain unsigned. One possible hold up is rumored to be the sponsor who was hoping the team would select a new driver that matches the great outdoors nature of their retail stores. Truex, an avid fisherman, fit that image and Bass Pro Shops reportedly really likes him. While there isn’t anything McMurray wouldn’t be willing to do to promote a sponsor, the great outdoors man image just isn’t there.
The current contract between Bass Pro Shops and EGR is reportedly up at the end of the 2010 season.There has been rumors that states they would love to align themselves with Ryan Newman someone they consider to be the perfect combination of race driver and outdoors man.
Making this story even more interesting are reports claiming that former NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Bobby Labonte is still considered to be a serious candidate for filling the EGR vacancy.
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THE VEGAS BREAKDOWN
The numbers experts from “Las Vegas Insider Dot Com”, to no real surprise, has Jimmie Johnson on top of their list to win Sunday at the Texas World Speedway. They’re backing that belief with 5 to 2 odds based on the fact that Johnson is a previous race winner there and also has logged nine top ten finishes.
Right behind him is team mate Jeff Gordon at 4 to 1 odds. Gordon won the first Texas race of the season last April, has seven top finishes and nine top tens.
Other notable rankings from “Las Vegas Insider” include previous race winner Tony Stewart at 6 to 1, Mark Martin, another previous winner, is ranked at 7 to 1 with Chase contender Juan Pablo Montoya coming in at 8 to 1.
A very interesting wager might be Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards at 10 to 1 odds. Edwards is the defending race winner and leads all active drivers with three wins at the Texas World Speedway. Also bear in mind that Ford leads the manufacturers ranking with nine wins at Texas.
For you Junior Nation fans who are wondering your driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr, is ranked at 35 to 1 odds despite the fact that there seems to be a sense of rejuvenation with this team combined with the fact that he’s a previous race winner at Texas.
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THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The Dickie’s 500 is 334 laps around the Texas Motor Speedway’s 1.5 mile quad oval.
The track has 24 degrees of banking in the turns and five degrees of banking on the straightaways and the track’s dog leg.
There has been 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup events at the speedway since its opening in 1997. The first race was won by Jeff Burton.
Races at Texas are famous for close finishes. In five of the last six events the margin of victory was under one second.
The race has 47 entries vying for the 43 starting positions. 12 of those entries are on the “go or go home” list meaning they are outside of NASCAR’s top 35 in owner’s points and must earn a starting berth based on their qualifying speed.
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