hearing that Mobil 1 will be a full sponsor of a third Penske Racing Nextel Cup car in 2008, no word on a driver.(6-8-2007) UPDATE: Roger Penske said Sunday he plans to field two Dodge-backed Nextel Cup Series teams in 2008. Recent reports said Penske Racing may leave Dodge next season in favor of a move to Toyota, a rumor Penske dismissed. “Our Dodge commitment is a long-term contract,” said Penske, one of the world’s largest Toyota dealers. “I read in the paper where we were switching to Toyota. We haven’t even talked to them about it.” As for the speculated third team? “We’ve looked at whether we’d run an additional car,” Penske said. “We haven’t made any commitment on it at this point. There’s lots of speculation. We’ve got a lot of moving parts right now. I’m not committing to a third team at this point, at all.”(ESPN.com)(6-11-2007) UPDATE 2: Penske Racing appears to be expanding to three teams in 2008, and former Indianapolis 500 champion Sam Hornish Jr. likely will fill that seat. Hornish is expected to compete in an unspecified number of Nextel Cup races toward the end of this season, team owner Roger Penske said Sunday morning at New Hampshire International Speedway. “We’re looking at it,” Penske said of the third team. “We definitely are very interested in doing that, but we have to look and see where we are with Hornish. That’ll be a deciding factor on exactly what we do.” More than likely Mobil 1, the sponsor on Hornish’s Busch car and an associate sponsor on both Penske Cup cars, would be the primary sponsor on the Cup car. Mobil 1 and Penske have had a long association. With this apparent plan to expand to three teams with Hornish, Penske said he is not in the running for free agent Kyle Busch. Busch’s older brother, Kurt, early last week lobbied on behalf of his brother during a national teleconference saying Penske Racing would be “stupid” not to talk to his brother.(ESPN.com)(7-2-2007)
