The team will continue to field Ford Fusions with power from Roush-Yates Engines.

Team owner Bob Jenkins said:

 You often see a lot of young teams going through a lot of changes trying to make it in the Sprint Cup Series. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had a lot of stable partners, people who believe in our approach and are seeing year-to-year improvements as a result of that approach. David Gilliland has been a rock for us for three years and David Ragan brought race-winning experience to us last year and returns for 2013. That stability is huge for a young, developing team, and I know we’ll continue to improve and have even better results this upcoming season.

Jay Guy will return as crew chief of the No. 34 FRM team with Ragan behind the wheel. Meanwhile Derrick Finley will return as crew chief for Gilliland and the No. 38 team.

No word yet on who will be crew chief for Josh Wise, and the No. 26 team.

The No. 34 team will be sponsored by Margaret Holmes Peanut Patch for four races in 2013, while the MDS Transport will sponsor the No 26 team.

In related news, Max Q Motorsports and Larry Gunselman entered into an agreement to take over the No. 37 Sprint Cup team. After this year’s Daytona 500, Gunselman teamed up with Front Row Motorsports to field the No. 37, which ran under the Max Q name. Gunselman leased the car, pit crew and crew chief with the end goal of eventually purchasing the team. FRM owner Bob Jenkins will be a minority owner for the remainder of the season, while Gunselman because majority owner.

Tony Raines, Robert Richardson Jr, and Scott Speed have driven the car this season.

Stremme said:

We always had to do more with less, but in the last month and a half, ownership hasn’t really wanted to make things better. Bill Jenkins has not been willing to make the correct decisions, and it has affected the performance of the team. We’ve barely been making it to track the last few weeks. At Pocono, we didn’t even know if we were going to have tires to race on.

He then told Jenkins that if things weren’t going to change, he didn’t want to stay with the team. Jenkins and Stremme sent a timeline to find another driver, according to Stremme. But, he started looking for a replacement right away, Stremme said.

For his part, Jenkins said:

We are in a funding fight every day, and we haven’t been able to fund the team at the level David expected. We’ve had some good things happen, and some bad things. We had to pull a sponsor off the car two weeks ago (GTW GPS) after a conflict emerged between their products and Sprint. We were counting on them to help get us over the hump, but those are the bumps in the road that you hit.

This news comes a week after Boris Said indicated that he would not drive for Latitude’s No. 26 team because Jenkins did not pay him. Stremme indicated that he, too, had not been paid.

Patrick Carpentier has been tagged to replace Stremme during this weekend’s Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

FRM was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-10.7J (unapproved modification to valve stem hardware) of the 2010 NASCAR Rule Book.

Crew Chief Steve Lane has been fined $100,000, suspended for the next 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, and suspended from NASCAR until September 15 and will be placed on probation until the end of the calendar year. Car chief Richard Bourgeois and tire specialist Michael Harrod received the same penalty, with the exception of the fine.

FRM car owner Doug Yates and driver Travis Kvapil were penalized with the loss of 150 owner’s and driver’s points, respectively. The loss of points drops the No. 38 out of the top-35 in owner’s points. As a result, Robby Gordon moves into the top 35. Thus Gordon won’t need to qualify on speed.

FRM acknowledged the penalty and noted that they will appeal NASCAR’s decision.

Team owner Bob Jenkins said:

We take the rules of this sport very seriously, and we support NASCAR in its enforcement of those rules. It was not our intent to put unapproved valve stem caps on our car at Pocono, a track where such a maneuver would clearly not provide any advantage.  We are conducting our own internal investigation to determine how those parts got into our inventory and onto our car last weekend. While we recognize we have to pay for our mistake, this was an unintentional, isolated incident. We plan to immediately submit an appeal through NASCAR’s formal appeal process as outlined by the NASCAR rule book.

Update: At this point, penalties are expected to be $250,000 fine, loss of 300 owner’s and driver’s points, and the suspension of crew chief Steven Lane.

If that’s the case, Travis Kvapil will fall from 31st to 36th position in the driver’s standings, and the No. 38 would fall from to 32nd position to 38th position in the owner’s points standings.

Team owner Bob Jenkins said:

 Moving our drivers, along with their respective sponsors, to different cars gives us the best chance to succeed as an entire team. It has been this attitude and strategic growth plan that has allowed us to become the team we are today.