Dodge is set to unveil its 2013 Dodge Charger for use in the Sprint Cup Series on March 11th. The problem is that with Penske’s decision, no big teams will field Dodges next season. Robby Gordon Motorsports is the only team that fields Dodges besides Penske.

Murstein said:

We received calls from several manufacturers today asking if they could meet with us. It seems that while sponsorship is down, car manufacturer support is strong. That is probably due to the fact that the car companies are all doing significantly better these days than a few years ago. Thus Petty has been approached by several manufacturers recently.

Back in 2001, Petty Enterprises fielded Dodges for John Andretti. They switched from Pontiacs when Dodge returned to Sprint Cup competition. The team fielded Dodges until the end of 2008, when the team merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports and became RPM. Less than a year later, RPM merged with Yates Racing and began fielding Fords. Their contract with Ford is up at season’s end.

Murstein also dropped one more interesting tidbit:

What’s interesting is that  while there are the usual suspects there is one new manufacturer that is trying to break into the sport.

Honda has been rumored to be considering breaking into NASCAR, though there is nothing to indicate any truth to that rumor.

As part of the deal with PE, GEM agreed to keep the Petty name in the name of the new organization. Richard Petty also requested that the team use the No. 44.

The No. 44 will replace the No. 10, and will be driven by AJ Allmendinger for at least seven races.

The No. 44 will not feature sponsorship from Budweiser, which currently sponsors Kasey Kahne and the No. 9 car. It has long been a Petty tradition to not feature alcohol-related sponsors on their cars.

At the unveiling of the team’s new logo, Petty said:

We come out to let the world know we’re still in the racing business and we’re going to be bigger and better than we’ve ever been.

Even before Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s highly publicized departure from DEI before last season, the team was struggling to remain competitive. While Martin Truex Jr. made the Chase in 2007, Jr. lost six engines and crashed out of races twice.

As if losing Jr. wasn’t enough, the team had a mediocre, at best, 2008 season with Truex Jr. receiving a 150-point penalty and conflicting reports as to whether Truex had re-signed with the team.

At the end of the season, Mark Martin left the team for Hendrick Motorsports, like Jr. Paul Menard left, taking his sponsor with him to Yates Racing. The US Army left the team for Stewart Haas Racing. Everyone was abandoning ship.

At Chip Ganassi Racing, things weren’t much better. The team shut the doors to its No. 40 team and driver Dario Franchitti due to a lack of sponsorship money.

The team also fired Jimmy Elledge, which seemed to upset Juan Pablo Montoya. And, Montoya, at one point, was rumored to be leaving the team, while Reed Sorenson left the team for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

When DEI and CGR merged to form EGR, they had Montoya, Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola under contract. They were missing a driver with a lot of NASCAR experience. They were missing a multiple race-winner. They were missing a veteran leader. In Labonte, they may have found all of that.

Labonte needs good equipment to be competitive, and EGR should be able to provide that. I know that the team has struggled, but some of that you have to put on its absentee owner, Teresa, who some say is not committed to winning.

Ganassi will be a presence at the track, and is committed to winning. He should be able to help keep the focus on on-track performance.

That, combined with Labonte’s leadership, should make any partnership a perfect match.

No word on sponsorship at this time.

For those of you who do not know, it was reported last month that Allmendinger would replace Sadler in the No. 19 Dodge next season.

This new prompted Sadler to claim breach of contract. An attorney for Sadler filed a notice, which left GEM with two choices: buyhim out or let him drive. Apparently, they chose to let him drive.

GEM also announced that it has reached a deal to merge with Petty Holdings.

This news comes as Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Holdings officially announced that the two teams have reached a deal to merge.

To clarify the situation, Allmendinger is not under contract with GEM. Allmendinger’s agent, Tara Ragan, said that there were never negotiations to kick Sadler out of the no. 19 car. She added that Allmendinger would never think to do something like that to Sadler considering that he went through a similar experience not too long ago.

The team has not announced a sponsor, car number, or driver for the team.

Team owner Tommy Baldwin said:

With tough economic times upon us, the timing for starting this team is right. Our overhead is low and we have a great group of talented mechanics and specialists to choose from. We can offer sponsors the chance to get into Sprint Cup racing at a fraction of the costs, without compromising on-track performance, due to our low overhead.

Baldwin owned a Nationwide series team, which he sold to Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

Terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but the agreement is said to have been reached on Christmas Eve. An announcement is expected next week.

Following the merger, Reed Sorenson is expected to drive the famed No. 43 car fielded by the team.

It was also recently announced that AJ Allmendinger would be replacing Elliott Sadler at GEM next season. No word on Sadler’s future, but he is rumored to be headed to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

Sadler may be headed to the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s No. 41 entry, or Penske Racing’s No. 77 machine, if Sam Hornish Jr. replaces Helio Castroneves in the Indy Racing League.

Castroneves is facing charges related to tax evasion.

Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development said:

I’ve known Robby as a driver, team owner and fierce competitor since 1990. … We’ve raced together in Off-Road, IMSA, SCCA and Indy Car and have shared many memorable challenges and victories. It will be exciting to see how the association between Robby, his team, Toyota and TRD will develop in 2009.

The move is RGM’s fourth in the last four years. In 2006, the team fielded Chevys, in 2007, they switched to Ford. In 2008, he moved over to Gillett Evernham Motorsports engines, and switched to Dodges.

His switch to Dodge last season led to a few problems for the team. Before the Daytona 500, RGM tried to practice his Dodge with an unapproved nose. He blamed Dodge saying:

This was an innocent mistake made by someone not even on my team. They accidentally supplied us the new Dodge noses that NASCAR hasn’t yet approved because of what amounted to a clerical error. It was discovered during technical inspection and corrected before the race. It was not even close to being an intent to create some competitive advantage, and the mistake was not even made by my team.

He was penalized 100 points, and fined $100,000.

The team also was working on a merger with GEM, when talks soured and GEM sued RGM for breach of contract. The suit was later dropped.

PE has not been able to secure sponsorship for the 2009 season for its storied No. 43 entry. While the team has said that if a merger were to fall through, it would still field the No. 43 car, some believe that it would not be likely without the merger.

Labonte, who earlier this year signed a contract extension with the team, has been linked to Ganassi-Earnhardt Racing’s No. 41 entry, the only full time ride with full sponsorship for next season without a driver.

Labonte said:

I am, and will always be, very appreciative of what Richard Petty and the Petty family, every employee of Petty Enterprises and members of Boston Ventures did to invest in bettering my career the past three seasons. Moving forward, I’m very anxious to prepare for the 2009 season. I do not currently have a contract with any other team for 2009, but I am ready to explore all opportunities and form the next partnership in my career.