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Penske switching to Ford in 2013
Penske Racing will in 2013 switch from Dodge to Ford in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, automotive-industry sources have informed Autoweek. An official announcement is expected midday Thursday. Penske fields Dodge Chargers for #2-Brad Keselowski and #22-A. J. Allmendinger. When Penske returned in 1991 he fielded Pontiacs through the 1994 season. He switched to Fords for the next eight seasons, 1995 through 2002, before forming his alliance with Dodge which reached nine years last season. All told, he's fielded 1,503 Cup entries, won 96 poles and 71 races. His cars have finished in the top-five 333 times and in the top-10 573 times. Penske Racing has never won a Cup championship but has been top-10 in final points 19 times.
But Penske Racing has been in a mini slump of late. It has won at least one race every year since 1991 but has only 18 wins in 768 starts dating to 2004. The year before, Newman won eight races, more than half his NASCAR career total of 15.
The Dodge years, beginning in 2003, are somewhat deceiving. Newman, in his second full year with Penske Racing, won eight races for Dodge in 2003, by far the brand's best NASCAR showing since its glory days with Richard Petty in the 1970s. Wallace won once in his next-to-last season of 2004, and Newman gave Dodge only three wins in his last four years with Penske. Kurt Busch won 10 times for Dodge in his six seasons with Penske Racing, and Keselowski has won three times.
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Where does Dodge go in 2013?
A new manufacturer in Cup? Dodge will unveil its 2013 Sprint Cup car on March 11 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. However, the bigger question now is who will be driving Dodges next year?
Robby Gordon Motorsports would be the lone team at this point after Penske Racing announced Thursday that it was moving to manufacturer Ford in 2013. But Dodge has also reached out to other teams, including Richard Petty Motorsports, according to owner Andy Murstein. "We received calls from several manufacturers today asking if they could meet with us," Murstein said. "It seems that while sponsorship is down, car manufacturer support is strong. That is probably due to the fact that the car companies are all doing significantly better these days than a few years ago. Thus Petty has been approached by several manufacturers recently.
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Denny Hamlin wins at Phoenix
#11-Denny Hamlin won the Subway Fresh Fit 500(k) Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway for his 1st win of the year and 18th of his career. He also gets his first win with new crew chief Darian Grubb. #29-Harvick made a late charge for the lead but ran low on fuel. He held on to finish 2nd followed by #16-Biffle, #48-Johnson, #2-Keselowski, #18-Busch, #56-Truex, Jr., #24-Gordon, #55-Martin, and #20-Logano. #14-Stewart shut his car off during a late caution and was unable to get it refired. He lost 2 laps and finished 22nd.
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Win 198 for #11 ties the #43
#11-Denny Hamlin's win in the Subway Fit Fresh 500(k) Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway was car #11's 198th win in the Sprint Cup Series. Now tied for all-time in Sprint Cup Series history for a car number.
#43, which also has 198 wins in 2319 Sprint Cup races is tied with with the #11, 3rd is the #3 at 97 wins. The last win by the #43 was John Andretti in 1999.