The King is coming back to Ford! The news that was so great for Ford fans and awful for those in the Chrysler camp in 1969 has come around again 40 years later. Just like the first time, Richard Petty will be switching his cars from Chrysler to Ford thanks to a lack of performance from Chrysler, except now that its Daimler, no US govt., no Fiat Chrysler! Whatever it is, they haven’t been doing too well on the NASCAR front lately, mainly thanks to a lack of effort and a struggling company thanks to poor management and government control.

Ford, on the other hand, has struggled on and off in NASCAR over the last couple of years, but has never let up trying to keep their cars in the championship hunt. That constant drive combined with being parented by the strongest automobile company in the world has produced success year after year for Ford Racing. This move could be just the thing Ford needs to boost them back into there position as the top manufacturer in NASCAR.

Several interesting elements come out of this merger. Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler will both be returning to Fords. Kahne started out in the Busch series with Robert Yates Racing, and Sadler found success early in his Cup career with RYR. Now they will return to drive cars for the remnants of that once great team. I personally am glad to see the Yates name dropped for this team, since Robert Yates Racing hasn’t really existed since Robert Yates retired a few years back. Since then, ‘Yates Racing’ has been nothing but Roush lite.

 I can’t tell you how great it will be to see the #9 Ford back on the track next season. That car is both the fastest and the most popular in the history of the sport.

And to think some people actually tried to hint that Petty would switch to Toyota. Come on, really? Not the King!

“This is a pretty big deal for us. We're thrilled to partner with Ford. We've talked with a lot of folks, but in the end it came down to the success the Gilletts and I think we can achieve with Ford Racing. Right now this deal is real new. There are lots of details still left to be ironed out so we don't have a lot of answers for anyone right now. We'll be working on all that in the coming days, weeks and months, but we do intend to have everything in place before the start of next season. I've won races with Ford and plan to again.”

-Richard Petty

But as usual, not everything in this story is so nice. When I first heard the news, my first reaction was basically what you see above; Being thrilled to get the King back to Ford camp. My second reaction was being thrilled by the news that Reed Sorenson, one of my favorite drivers, would be driving a Ford for RPM/RYR, my two favorite teams. Not so fast.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that loser Paul Menard bumped Travis Kvapil from his ride at the start of this season, now he and his daddy’s money have Reed Sorenson, one of NASCAR’s most talented young drivers, out of a ride at RPM. There is one reason and one reason only that Menard is still driving a car in Cup, and everyone knows what it is. Money. I should probably calm down a little before I post any more about this topic.

Bobby Labonte, Erik Darnell, Travis Kvapil, David Gilliland, and Jamie McMurray (rumored to be headed to Yates), are also left out in RPM’s current plans.

Anyone know how to get a petition started to put Sorenson in that 98 car next year? If so, please let me know.

The nitty gritty here is probably that Jack Roush has even more teams and resources under his control now. If Sorenson doesn’t end up in an RPM car next season, it’s still hard for me to believe that Roush would let him get away. There has to be a spot for this guy somewhere. And with young talents like Erik Darnell, Colin Braun, and others waiting in the wings, yet another Roush controlled team in the near future is far from out of the question. I personally would be thrilled to see Sorenson end up in the non-Roush control #21 Wood Brothers Ford next season.

“I've kind of known for a few weeks now that I'm looking for a job next year. I thought this was going to be a place where I could get with a team and start a long future but obviously that hasn't worked out. It's not a good time to be looking for a ride, especially a good one. The one good thing I have is that I am young and I'm going to work my butt off the rest of this year to try and find a job and just keep doing the best I can. That's all you can do.”

-Reed Sorenson

While I’m sure the media will be much busier covering Danica Patrick, Kyle Busch, and Jimmie Johnson, to me this is a much bigger story, so I’ll save the Danica business for later.