Richard Petty Motorsports’ Executive Director of Race Operations Robbie Loomis says the team could field a Ford before the end of the 2009 season. Loomis told FoxSports.com’s Lee Spencer, “I don’t want to talk about things that are pure speculation, but I don’t think it would surprise anybody if we did.” A spokesperson for RPM told Sirius Speedway today that there are no plans to field a Ford before 2010, but off the record, sources inside RPM say that the team has already built at least one Ford Fusion, installing a Ford powerplant in an existing RPM chassis. Initial plans were to have #44-AJ Allmendinger debut the car at Kansas Speedway next week, but that timetable was pushed back when Roush-Fenway Racing’s Jack Roush expressed reservations about the quick ramp-up. Now, tentative plans call for Allmendinger to drive a Richard Petty Motorsports Ford at Talladega Superspeedway on November 1, with additional outings possible — though not certain — at Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami Speedways. Calls to Richard Petty Motorsports seeking comment were not immediately returned. Loomis also confirmed today that #43-Reed Sorenson is not the first RPM driver to race for free, saying that Allmendinger also waived his paycheck for a time, in order to remain on the racetrack. “AJ and all the employees at Richard Petty Motorsports made sacrifices in order to continue being a four-car team,” he said. “When those guys stepped up, it really said a lot to me about the character of Reed Sorenson, AJ Allmendinger and everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports.”(Sirius-Speedway)(9-25-2009)
