(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)
It appears that the Shell/Pennzoil sponsorship is leaving the #29 Richard Childress Racing Chevy at the end of the 2001 season. That sponsorship appears most likely to be heading to Penske Racing and most likely to the Penske Dodge of Kurt Busch.
Fox Sports is reporting that Kurt Busch will be driving a new race car number, the #22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge for Penske Racing. If that occurs, one scenario is for” Blazingly Bad” Keselowski to move over and drive the #2 Miller Lite Dodge.
With Shell/Pennzoil moving to Penske, that definitely impacts the Mobil1 sponsorship of the #77 Mobil 1 Dodge, since the two oil companies are competitors. It would appear that Mobil 1 will depart the Penske Racing organization at the end of the 2010 season. It is also noted that Pennzoil will be a primary sponsor on Penske’s IRL cars as well! With this impending announcement, what will the #77 Penske Dodge do for sponsorship?
With Shell/Pennzoil leaving RCR, not to mention the Kevin Harvick contract expiring at the end of the year, what is in store for Richard Childress Racing? Will the loss of this sponsor have an impact on whether Kevin Harvick signs a contract or leaves RCR? What will RCR do to fill the void of sponsorship on the #29 RCR Chevy for the 2011 season and beyond?
If Harvick leaves RCR who is on the short list to take that seat? More importantly, where do you think that Harvick will land if he choose to leave Richard Childress Racing?
Wednesday there is a scheduled new conference regarding the future of the Shell/Pennzoil sponsorship. Some of these questions will start to be answered. But that may also lead to many other questions that will be open ended!
The beginning of “Silly Season” for NASCAR began last week with the announcement of the Hendrick-Kahne signing. Now that the first domino has fallen, the jockeying for good rides is off and running! Let the games begin!
Stay tuned, the excitement has just begun!
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
