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GEM leaving Dodge for Toyota...Confirmed?
From Winston Salem Journal
Dodge teams in general have struggled this season. Though Dodge officials last week denied reports that George Gillett, who is the majority owner of Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, was planning a switch to Toyota, it's been confirmed that just such a plan is in the works. The loss of the Gillett-Evernham team would be a significant blow to Dodge, because Ray Evernham was the man who keyed Dodge's return to this sport eight years ago, and the Evernham operation has been Dodge's anchor.
The loss of Gillett to Toyota would leave Dodge with the Roger Penske team, the Pettys, Robby Gordon, and Chip Ganassi's team. Penske's Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500, in a surprise, and Kurt Busch won the rain-shortened Loudon race in June; Kasey Kahne won at Concord and Pocono for Gillett-Evernham.
GEM is expected to purchase Bill Davis Racing's Cup operation (#22 team). Anncouncement could come at Charlotte if all details get worked out in time.
(Note: If Robby stays with Dodge and GEM switches to Toyota, he would have an automatic birth in the Bud Shootout in 2009)
Dodge teams in general have struggled this season. Though Dodge officials last week denied reports that George Gillett, who is the majority owner of Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, was planning a switch to Toyota, it's been confirmed that just such a plan is in the works. The loss of the Gillett-Evernham team would be a significant blow to Dodge, because Ray Evernham was the man who keyed Dodge's return to this sport eight years ago, and the Evernham operation has been Dodge's anchor.
The loss of Gillett to Toyota would leave Dodge with the Roger Penske team, the Pettys, Robby Gordon, and Chip Ganassi's team. Penske's Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500, in a surprise, and Kurt Busch won the rain-shortened Loudon race in June; Kasey Kahne won at Concord and Pocono for Gillett-Evernham.
GEM is expected to purchase Bill Davis Racing's Cup operation (#22 team). Anncouncement could come at Charlotte if all details get worked out in time.
(Note: If Robby stays with Dodge and GEM switches to Toyota, he would have an automatic birth in the Bud Shootout in 2009)
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rod on
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Skoda would be good for Robby....because I think it translates to Pushes like a dumptruck!
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Permalink Reply by WJM on
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Skoda does support a WRC team. This just in! Robby signs with Skoda and will run the full WRC schedule in 2009!
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Permalink Reply by Matt/Canuck on
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This whole Skoda news break thing is F**Ken funny
Maybe Peter Nedved could be in the second car
I'm a canuck, hockey mix in
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Permalink Reply by Lance on
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Toyota won't fix the fact that Reed Sorenson and Elliott Sadler can't drive and that Kasey Kahne is wildly inconsistent. I hope they fall flat on their face.
The most surprising thing about this is who is switching to Toyota from Dodge. I knew that they would lose at least one team. I did not anticipate it being Evernham. I would've bet anything Penske was the first defector followed by Ganassi, due to their relationship with Toyota in other places (Roger sells them, Ganassi races Lexus in Rolex). Strange indeed but George Gillette is proving he's not a man of his word and not a man with any integrity. If not for Dodge, Evernham would'nt have a team and in one year after selling out he's jumping ship.
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Permalink Reply by Tooltime on
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You know, I reported on here a few weeks ago on a radio show I listened to where Ray was telling the Sirius Nascar show how far behind Dodge was on the new motor. He even went as far as telling the host that there wont be any motors used in the last 10 races, and they would be lucky if the new motors were even ready by Daytona...Then I hear Penske debut the new motor last week...What gives?
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It's called Ray is making excuses. He wouldn't know what Dodge is doing because he's going to Toyota
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Permalink Reply by Bigzoom on
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From Nascar Roundup
It appears GEM will indeed make the switch to Toyota in 2009. Dodge officials have been very confident GEM wouldn't stay, but know realizes they have lost their flagship team. In efforts to keep their other Dodge teams happy, Dodge quickly moved forward with their new engine program. Dodge's R6P8 engine made it's debut in Kurt Busch's No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger after the Penske team had done midweek testing on it for several months. "It was just a tough day all around - loose, tight, loose, tight," said Busch, who finished 30th. "Our handling issue didn't give us a chance to evaluate the performance of the new engine."
GEM is expected to move forward with the purchase of Bill Davis Racing's Sprint Cup team after negotiating out of an agreement to purchase Robby Gordon's Cup team.
Gordon has been seen having discussions with several owners in the Cup garage lately, including DEI, Inc. Gordon is expected to sell or possibly merge his team for 2009. Gordon was asked if his deal with Penske might evolve into more for the next season. "Right now Roger has agreed to supply us engines for the remainder of the season. As for next season we're just trying to re-build this team and gain so momentum we've lost. I think Talladega & Charlotte will be two very strong tracks for us. We have the potential to gain a ton of points," responded Robby. "We had a solid car this past weekend. I messed up over shooting our pit box and got a couple of penalties speeding. It put us behind the eight-ball the whole race and never really allowed us an opportunity to make up any ground. We had a top 20 car, just didn't get the results to show for it. I take the blame for it, the guys did a great job all day and our speedway cars are getting better. I'm excited about another plate race, I think we could have won at Daytona if the caution hadn't came out. We'll use our plate strategy and hopefully get another solid finish. We just need to avoid the wrecks."
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Permalink Reply by Eric Gonzalez on
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rgm has to stay with dodge. its for the best. roger wants to win and being affiliated with champions in nascar and indy could not suck. rob maybe you can get hooked up with a crew chief you can trust. this would allow you to keep your head in the game not on the car. if this new dodge engine is going to be what it is cracked up to be? your head should be on winning not running. there was only one allen. now one robby!!! you can do it!!!!! much support
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Permalink Reply by Flan on
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Come to think of Dodge just might get a break for a couple of reasons. 1. If the new engine has a clear advantage over the other makes, it might take a while for NA$CAR to legislate against it. 2. Brian France & co. don't want Dodge to fold up their tent and go home. They might cut them a little slack just to keep them in the game.
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