Ambrose signs multiyear deal with RPM

Ambrose signs multiyear deal with RPM


Special to the Sporting News NASCAR  Service

Marcos Ambrose finished 18th in the standings last year with JTG Daugherty Racing, but mired in a season where he’s 26th in points, he believes he can perform better at Richard Petty Motorsports starting in 2011.
Ambrose said Tuesday he signed a multiyear deal to replace Red Bull Racing-bound Kasey Kahne in the No. 9 car, which will have sponsorship from Stanley for the majority of the races in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.
It’s going to eliminate any question marks I’ve got about stuff around me and people around me,” Ambrose said. “Hopefully we will jell together well. … As a racecar driver and professional, all you can ask is to put yourself in these opportunities. If I can’t get in victory lane and can’t do what I believe I can, there will be no question marks left. It’s very, very simple.”
The decision to go to RPM was not a surprise, as speculation had him going there even a few weeks before Ambrose announced late last month that he and JTG Daugherty Racing would part ways. Ambrose will be replaced by 2000 Cup champion Bobby Labonte in the team’s No. 47 car.
Ambrose said the JTG Daugherty team was strong on the short tracks, the road courses and the superspeedways but lacked something on the 1.5-mile ovals.
“We haven’t been fast enough, consistent enough on the (intermediate) ovals,” Ambrose said. “It’s a question that needs to be answered. That’s a primary reason why I thought I needed to make a change.
“Was it me? Was it a situation with the partnership (with Michael Waltrip Racing)? Was it the one-car team? … I believe that I’m as good as anybody out there and can win four championships just like Jimmie Johnson has done. Until you get to the point that you can prove or disprove what you’ve got, it’s very hard to be sure. We’ll find out in 2011.”
Ambrose, who will join current RPM driver AJ Allmendinger next year, said he believes in the future of the organization, which currently has four teams but has announced sponsorship only for Ambrose. It needs funding for Allmendinger as well as additional sponsorship if it wants to continue running the No. 19 and No. 98 cars. Elliott Sadler has said he doesn’t plan on returning to the team, and Paul Menard already has announced he is moving with his family sponsor to Richard Childress Racing next year.
“I feel very secure in RPM and where they’re heading and the direction they’re taking,” Ambrose said. “I’m signed up. … I’m just one of many good news stories that is going to come out of here in the next little while.
“I feel great with the association. They’re moving definitely in the direction I want to head and there’s no reason why we can’t be a major force in 2011 on the race track.”
Stanley had been the sponsor for Sadler and the RPM No. 19 car.