Ambrose to #9 Richard Petty Motorsports

[FIRE]

Ambrose back in a Ford:

In preparation for the 2011 season, Richard Petty Motorsports announced Tuesday that driver Marcos Ambrose has signed a multiyear agreement with the organization to drive the No. 9 Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Long-time RPM sponsor Stanley Black & Decker will be the primary sponsor of the No. 9 team.

"I'm very excited to join Richard Petty Motorsports," said Ambrose. "It's an incredible honor to be able to race for a legend like The King and be a part of this organization. I'm also happy to be back with Ford Racing.

"The No. 9 team has been a very successful team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. With the support of Ford and everyone at RPM, I believe we can continue that tradition of success. I'm also excited to join forces with Stanley."

Team owner Richard Petty said, "We are very happy to have Marcos Ambrose join our team. He's a very talented and passionate driver and will be a great addition to our team."

"We knew once Marcos became available that we wanted him to be a part of the RPM family," said Foster Gillett, managing partner and team owner. "He's a fan favorite and he's proven to be a tough competitor on track. We're thrilled to have Stanley continue their partnership with our team and believe that Marcos is a great fit for the Stanley Racing program."

....

http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/ar...x?artnum=57119

[jason7253]

Thank goodness for that couldn,t stand the guy when he was here. But he seems like a different person in Nascar, Good luck to him.

[mountainstar]

Gee what a surprise.

[GTRMagic]

Do they have a full season budget in place? Depending where you read, its hard to know for sure..

[FPV8U]

Glad this is signed off and all done, sponcership does have that questionmark for if it's a full seasons budget but "if" and it's still and if they can get some good performances together early that should certainly help the sponcership cause.

While im excited for 2011 and Ambrose back at home so to speak i think besides the lottery that is the super speedways we shouldn't expet too much early on, top 15's and a solid start with lots of finishes and lots of miles with the new ar and team is what he needs.

What are the chances of Kahne, Ambrose & Labonte all doing their respective swaps early as per the speedcafe article?

Very exciting for Austrlian NASCAR/Ambrose fans for 2011 thats for sure.

[GTRMagic]

The interesting piece may be who the teammates are.. besides Mr Allmendinger..

2011 as a learning year, 2012 with Mr Martin as teammate...?

[rich07]

Good to hear here's not coming back to Oz, dont hate the guy, but would rather him follow his heart and dreams in Nascar. Good for him.

[St00ge]

Good to hear he is still going to be in Nascar, hopefully now with a few more ponies under the bonnet he can do a bit better in Cup.

[St00ge]

http://video214.com/play/OVLzYgpnC2B4dESHOTFEgA/s/dark

Ford seem pretty happy to have him back

[Axeman444]

so now that this is squared away, will we see him at Homebush, given he mentioned he will be looking into it if he had next year signed off?

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

The interesting piece may be who the teammates are.. besides Mr Allmendinger..

2011 as a learning year, 2012 with Mr Martin as teammate...?

will Martin still be running by then?

[Juarez Jed]

I don't think there is the luxury of 2011 being a learning year.
Marcos will be expected to make the Chase and rack up consistent top fives after leaving JTG early for this Ford deal.
This will be a big challenge with RPM in a downsizing phase but I am confident Marcos will make the most of it.

[GTRMagic]

Presumably the reported Ford blessing will help the driver's and RPM's cause..

What is the expectation for 2011? Make the chase? An oval win? A street circuit win?

[gomick]

Awesome news, multi-year deal, love NASCAR even more when Marcos is in it

[Jacques Rabbit]

Marcos Ambrose is easily among my favorites, so I'm glad he's moving up a step to a better team. I hope he can finally get the results he's shown he can achieve (especially in 2009) and put together a solid season with some wins (one of these years he'll get Infineon and/or the Glen).

I think he could be a sleeper for the Chase, but not likely. I expect him more in a McMurray role; winning a few races, many solid runs, but just not quite able to break into the 12. Still, a big step up from the 47.

I'm also under the impression they'll just be a two-car effort, the 9 and the 43, and I think that's fantastic. Stanley moving to Ambrose leaves the 19 with even less funding (some say Hunt Brothers Pizza is going to follow Sadler, too), and the 98 has none. Ford only supply works support to two cars, allegedly, so running four was spreading themselves way too thin. Two cars has really worked for Earnhardt-Ganassi (though their luck's been poor and Montoya and Pattie had their issues), so I see it making much more sense for RPM. Just stick with two factory supported cars and two drivers with a lot of potential to get big results and they'll be fine. Throwing in useless mid-to-back-packers like Sadler, Mears, Sorenson, etc. when the funding's not there is only going to waste resources.

[Matt]

Get Pirtek on that car stat!

[Juarez Jed]

As Jacque Rabbit says, if they can keep the best of the crew from the 4 teams and not have the good ones poached, then they should be able to run a very solid 2 car effort.
It will be a big improvement for Marcos anyway after working with JTG and the Wood brothers in recent years.