Filed under: Motorsports, Ford, Celebrities

As expected, Richard Petty Motorsports will no longer race in NASCAR using Chrysler vehicles after the current season, instead turning to Ford and joining forces with Yates Racing. The first sign of discontentment between the Pentastar and Petty came shortly after Chrysler filed for bankruptcy and halted payment to Petty's racing organization.

For the 2010 season, the new group will field a team of drivers consisting of Kasey Kahne, A.J. Allmendinger, Paul Menard and Elliott Sadler. At this point, its unclear what will happen with Reed Sorenson, Bobby Labonte and Erik Darnell, the three drivers currently left out of the new team's plans.

You'd have to turn back the clock a full 40 years to see the last time Richard Petty raced with Ford. Petty won a total of nine races in 1969, his lone season driving a car from the Blue Oval, before eventually losing out on the title to David Pearson's Holman Moody-prepped Ford Torino.

[Source: Ford Racing]

Richard Petty Motorsports drops Dodge for Ford, joins Yates Racing originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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