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.

NASCAR officials say that they are close to approving the specifications for the new nose of the car. According to SceneDaily.com, the change to the nose will affect the bottom half of the bumper. Currently, the bumper has an indentation, with splitter braces. The new bumper would be curved more, and would not require splitter braces.

NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said:

It’s just time for a style change. We’ve been working on it for about a year now. We’re working on [the brand identity] with the manufacturers.

Jamie Allison, of Ford Racing, indicated that everything goes according to plan with the implementation of the Mustang into the Nationwide Series and the changes to the Cup car, he would consider switching to the Mustang in 2011.

Allison said:

We want to see more brand identity in the cars. We’ve been asking NASCAR because we’ve liked what transpired in the Nationwide.

The team will be sponsored by Ask.com.

Following his release from Petty Enterprises, Labonte was rumored to be going to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the No. 41 sponsored by Target, or, more recently, the No. 8 Chevy. No word on who will drive that car, now that Labonte is out of the picture.

Labonte said of joining HOF Racing:

I’m excited to be part of what Ask.com is bringing to our sport. In a time like this, it’s great to see a sponsor come in with technology and ideas that will help all of the competitors in NASCAR and enhance the experience for all of our fans, no matter which driver or team they cheer for.

HOF Racing co-owner Tom Garfinkle said:

Jeff Moorad and I are excited to add Ask.com as a primary sponsor on the No. 96 car. We’ve been working closely with Ask.com for several weeks now, and their talented management team has come up with more creative ideas to serve NASCAR fans than I’ve seen in a long time. With our new Yates [Racing] partnership and having a true champion and class person in Bobby Labonte behind the wheel, we’re expecting great things on the race track as well.

Separately, Ask.com also entered an agreement to become the official search engine of NASCAR, meaning Ask.com has category exclusivity and a broad set of promotional rights.

Under the agreement, Ask.com will exclusively power the search experience on NASCAR.com.
 
Ask.com CEO Jim Safka said:

Through these partnerships, we will break new ground by applying our semantic search technology capabilities to NASCAR-related content while also tapping one of the largest marketing channels in America. Our goal is to win over the millions of loyal fans by providing them with the best NASCAR search experience on the Web, and introduce them to all of Ask’s capabilities when they come.

The two teams announced that they will be aligning, and that HOF Racing would be moving to Yates Racing’s shop.

So, if true, you can pretty much throw out whether or not Labonte would be a good fit for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Labonte’s name has been linked to EGR’s No. 8 and No. 41 since he was released from Petty Enterprises.

Making it an even better story, Ambrose became the first Australian to win in NASCAR when he won the Nationwide Series race, the Zippo 200, one day before. He assumed the lead with three laps to go, when Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson both had to pit.

All in all the weekend was a career weekend for Ambrose, and a shot in the arm for both JTG Racing and Wood Brother’s Racing.

While I don’t think Ambrose is going to suddenly turn WBR around, he certainly is walking a little bit taller. And with the five races he has left with the team, look for him to try to learn all he can and gain all the respect he can.

If he stays focused, he should be able to improve the team’s position in the standings, by making races and staying out of trouble, much like he did on Saturday and Sunday.