Carpentier said:

It’s been a few years that I’ve thought about it. I discussed it with my wife. We talked about my situation on several occasions and I came to the conclusion that I must move on.

Carpentier made his NASCAR debut in what is now known as the Nationwide Series in 2007 at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve driving the No. 9 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge. He started on the pole and finished second. He made his Sprint Cup Series debut eight days later in GEM’s No. 10 Dodge at Watkins Glen International. He started 40th, led seven laps, and finished 20th.

He made four more starts that season, two in Nationwide and two in Cup. He finished 19th in the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen and 42nd in the Ford 300 at Miami-Homestead Speedway in Nationwide. He finished 33rd in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway and 40th in the Ford 400 at Miami-Homestead in Cup.

In the fall of 2007, it was announced that he would run the No. 10 full time in Cup in 2008. He made 24 starts in ’08, averaging a finishing position of 29.6.

He also made eight starts in the Nationwide Series for GEM. He posted four top 10s, including a runner-up finish at Montreal. And, he made on Camping World Truck Series start driving for Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia in the O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He finished 25th.

In the summer of 2008, Carpentier announced he would be leaving GEM after they hired Reed Sorenson for 2009. In October, he was released by GEM and former Red Bull Racing driver AJ Allmendinger finished the year in the No. 10.

In 2009, Carpentier drove Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 55 Cup Toyota at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International. He also made three starts in Tommy Baldwin Racing’s No. 36 car in events that conflicted with Mike Skinner (TBR’s full-time driver) Camping World Truck Series schedule. He finished 11th in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 that year, his best career Cup finish.

In 2010, Carpentier ran six races for Latitude 43 Motorsports, replacing David Stremme who left the team, claiming owner Bob Jenkins was not interest in helping the team improve. He never finished better than 21st.  Latitude planned to run select races in 2011, but they have yet to make a start. They are believed to have ceased operations.

Carpentier also ran one race for MWR, the Nationwide race at Montreal. He finished 32nd.

In 2011, Carpentier ran FAS Lane Racing’s No. 32 in the STP 400 at Kansas Speedway. He started 40th and finished 30th. 

Carpentier’ saw his most success in the CART Champ Car Series between 2001 and 2004. He won at least one race in each of those years while driving for Forsythe Championship Racing.

Carpentier left Forsythe to join Cheever Racing, Eddie Cheever’s Indy Racing League IndyCar Series team, in 2005. Carpentier never won an Indy race, largely due to uncompetitve Toyota engines used by Cheever Racing. The team lost its sponsor, Red Bull, and Carpentier was left without a ride.

He attempted to qualify for the 2011 Indy 500 driving for Dragon Racing in the IZOD IndyCar Series. He failed to make the race.

This will mark the first time in my Sprint Cup career that I will be driving a car that is already qualified for the race. There will be a lot less pressure when we practice on Friday, because we will be able to work both on qualifying and race setups.

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.

In 2007, Carpentier won the pole for this race and finished second in both 2007 and 2008. In 2009, he also ran well in this race before a mechanical issue.

Riggs attributed the decision to a lack of sponsorship and poor performance.

Mike Skinner, Patrick Carpentier, and Brian Simo will replace Riggs in the car. Skinner will drive in 17 races, Carpentier will run the five races that conflict with Skinner’s Camping World Truck Series schedule, and Simo will run the road courses.

Mike Wallace will replace Carpentier in this weekend’s Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. AJ Allmendinger will take over driving duties of the No. 10 GEM Dodge for the remaining races.

Mark McArdle, GEM VP and managing director of competition, said:

We certainly appreciate all the effort that Patrick Carpentier made for us this year. But our job is to put ourselves in a position to win races, plus we’re striving to get the No. 10 into the top 35 in [owner] points. We feel A.J. gives us the best chance to do both.

Being 338 points out of the top 35 does not bode well for the team. After this weekend’s race, Allmendinger will have five races to make up those points, which is highly unlikely.

Mike Delahanty, of Dodge Motorsports, refuted the rumors that GEM would leave Dodge. He said:

Dodge and Gillett Evernham have a long history that dates to our return to Sprint Cup racing (2001). Dodge and GEM have a long-term contract in place. We plan to continue as partners in NASCAR. We’re aware and have had discussion about GEM’s interest in adding a fourth car, but there’s never been discussion about running anything but a Dodge. Anything beyond that, we classify as pure speculation.

Patrick Carpentier is officially a free agent. GEM informed Carpentier that the team could not secure sponsorship for next season. While GEM could still find a sponsor, it’s not likely.