Richard Petty Motorsports sells majority of team to Gallagher Motorsports
RPM announced Wednesday that
Gallagher had purchased a large portion of the team and would obtain the two
charters that RPM currently owns. Richard Petty Motorsports fielded the iconic
No. 43 car for Erik Jones in 2021 and also had an agreement for backmarker Rick
Ware Racing to use its other charter.
No other details were provided in
the statement announcing the deal. The statement said that a news conference to
discuss the deal would be held on Dec. 7.
Gallagher, the CEO and chairman of
Allegiant Airlines, has operated Gallagher Motorsports in the Truck Series and
Xfinity Series. The team fielded five trucks full-time in the Truck Series and
had previously announced its intention to move up to NASCAR's Cup Series in
2022 with Ty Dillon as its driver.
The deal means that Jones and Dillon
will be teammates in 2022. Jones joined RPM ahead of the 2021 season after he
was let go from Joe Gibbs Racing to make room for Christopher Bell. Dillon
didn't have a full-time ride in 2021 after Germain Racing shut down at the end
of the 2020 season.
There are 36 charters available in
NASCAR's Cup Series and a charter ensures that a team car has a guaranteed
entry into every Cup Series race. Charter teams also get a bigger share of
prize money than non-charter teams.
Richard Petty Motorsports had kept
its second charter since downsizing to one team after the 2016 season. Andrew
Murstein and Medallion Financial have been the majority owners of RPM after
purchasing it in 2010 while Petty the winningest driver in Cup Series history has
retained a minority stake.
The sale to GMS will be yet another
iteration of Petty’s race team since it was Petty
Enterprises in its heyday. Petty Enterprises was the gold standard for NASCAR
in the pre-modern era and the first decade of NASCAR’s modern
era.
Petty Enterprises existed on its own
until 2009 before it merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports and rebranded as
Richard Petty Motorsports with Petty and Ray Evernham keeping minority stakes
in the team. The team lasted a season in that form before merging with Yates
Racing, another former NASCAR power.
The team ran four cars in 2010 but
financial issues caused it to drop to two in 2011.
Jones finished 24th in the Cup
Series standings in 2021 and Aric Almirola's Daytona win in 2014 remains the
last win for Richard Petty Motorsports.