Wednesday, June 13, 2012

What's Dodge's Answer?

Dodge unveiled their new 2013 Charger for the for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series earlier this season at Vegas with high expectations, but since then things seem to be hopeless for the manufacturer. Penske, the only team that was fielding two Dodges full time in the Cup series full time, announced that they will be switching back to Ford after leaving them for Dodge back in the 2003 season.
One of the options for the team was to see if longtime Dodge supporter Richard Petty Motorsports would return to them. Another problem for them, RPM doesn't make their own chassis or engines thus making the switch to Dodge expensive and almost impossible. It would be an expensive move to get RPM in the right direction, a price tag of almost a half a billion dollars.

But there may be one last glamour of hope, and that may be Robby Gordon. He was the only other driver to race Dodges this season, but is currently part time. He already has the facility to support what Dodge is looking for, and that is a shop and team that builds his own chassis and engines which can be capable of being competitive if the proper backing was given to him. It would be a much cheaper option for the manufacturer but it would more than likely only be one car and probably a part time car as well for Robby Gordon as he will continue his off road truck career, his first racing love.

It will be interesting to see what move Dodge will make. Will they go the very expensive road and transfer RPM to build Dodges? Or does sticking less money into Robby Gordon Motorsports that already has the resources to get the ball rolling make more sense? Maybe the most logical answer for them will be to pull out of NASCAR all together. Only time will tell, but as of right now those are the only three options that Dodge has right now. What will be their answer? Stay tuned.



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