Two NASCAR drivers born in Tampa started the new year in new seats as the NASCAR landscape settles in with many changes in drivers and crew chiefs.
Richard Petty Motorsports signed Aric Almirola for the legendary No. 43 Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Tommy Baldwin Racing hired David Reutimann to join Dave Blaney in their two-car Sprint Cup team.
RPM will announce a sponsor for Almirola soon while TBR is still seeking funding for their race cars.
The economic climate has contributed to the shrinking of viable sponsors making team operation challenging on even more levels.
Comments courtesy of RPM:
“One of the things I am most excited about is to have the chance to drive a car as iconic as the No. 43,” stated Almirola. “There is so much history surrounding that number and to have my name above the door will be really special for me.
“This is the first real opportunity I’ve had to drive in the Cup Series full time,” continued Almirola. “Last year the No. 43 team had a lot of speed and was competitive on a weekly basis. Greg Erwin is a great crew chief and I’m excited to work with him. Everyone at Richard Petty Motorsports has a lot of enthusiasm and drive and I’m really looking forward to getting to work.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Aric Almirola into the RPM family,” said team Co-owner Richard Petty. “We feel extremely fortunate to have had a number of very talented drivers interested in joining our organization, but ultimately we felt Aric would be the best fit for the team and for our current and potential partners. We have had the chance to watch his progress for the past several years and we had success with him in the past. We are really confident in his potential as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. We think Aric has all the makings to be the next bright star in our sport.”
Comments courtesy of TBR:
“Tommy has built a really good organization from the ground up in a really short amount of time,” said Reutimann. “One of the things I like about Tommy and what’s refreshing about him is that he is just a racer. There are lots of things he could be doing but instead he is at the shop every day working hard to build the organization from the ground up. There are not a lot of true racers in the garage, and he is one of them. It’s the way I was raised with my Dad, so we are on the same page. I’m just really looking forward to the season and see what we can do.”
"Reutimann will be a great addition to our program and to Dave Blaney,” commented team owner Tommy Baldwin. “Last season, we met our goal of running the entire schedule and making the top-35 in points. This season, our goals is to continue our progress on the competition side. Having two veteran drivers in Reutimann and Blaney is a very important step in our program’s growth.”
Six major NASCAR tracks are within a day's drive of Tampa. Great destinations justify journeys.
Here the NASCAR venue is considered local if tracks are within a 10 hour drive from Tampa—Daytona International Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of motorsports topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com. Information and quotes derived from motorsports industry press releases.
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