Andretti to cup in 2013

UPDATE: Sources have confirmed to PitPass.net that Michael Andretti has purchased the engine program from Penske Racing and will field at least one full time Dodge in the Cup series in 2013 and beyond. No word on who the driver is, but with Matt Kenseth leaving Roush at the end of the season, the 2003 Cup series champ did confirm to the Journal Sentinel on Wednesday that he will drive for "a new cup team" in 2013 and beyond. One option on the table is for Andretti to base his team out of the old Evernham Motorsports shop at the Statesville Regional Airport in Statesville, N.C. Also hearing from this unnamed source that this new deal with Dodge is also with Richard Petty Motorsports -- currently a Ford team paired with Roush Fenway Racing, but has a long history with Dodge. (this is why we didn't get the announcement of Petty to Dodge in Michigan a few weeks ago, they were trying to get Kenseth). Hearing that an offical announcement could come as early as next weekend.(PitPass.net)(6-282012 from jayski

and if he got matty to drive for him, he pulled off a big move.. it would make sense that the announcement would come at indy, if ya think about it.

Ugh, Matt, just say no...

i think you meant "yes matty." right rochelle

Wow. So he is going to Andretti after all. He said he is going to a "new team".

I thought for sure it was Gibbs. I guess Logano's ride is safe once again.

This reminds me of another former cup champion who went to another Open wheel car owner who was new to NASCAR. When Rusty went to Roger's team. We all know how much success they had. This is huge for Andretti if they truly got Kenseth. He is going to be an excellent leader for that team and attract some really good people. I think people are going to doubt these guys like they doubted SHR. But I will not make that mistake. They will surprise people next year.

So I guess Andretti is good enough for Kenseth after all .

Gee guess I was right........Imagine that!! Sometimes small home town people really know, especially when it comes to finding jobs in this bad economy. Hope it helps those who have lost their jobs.....

...wonder if he'll make a move on Danica for a second car????

i think you meant "yes matty." right rochelle

Uh, no... I didn't mean yes Matty... Andretti needs to stay where they are. Tony was a proven champion and driver when he went to Haas, as well as an established businessman (he owns many businesses besides TSR). He also had the advantage of being with JGR for all those years and learning how to be a successful team owner. Take the Red Bull team, for example. They are very good in other sports but pretty much fell on their face in Cup. At the most, there will be 1 to 3 Dodges in Cup. Not a lot of teammates to gather data from and I don't believe if Andretti comes in with 1 car and Petty has 2 that information will be that free-flowing between teams. It's not all about the engines. There are a lot of other aspects to winning. Come on, you don't think Chad shares everything do you?

chad better not share, i dont mind if he shares the bad stuff, hahaha, but as i been posting MA doesnt do anythin half ash, and if matty has signed with them, im sure they have a sponsor lined up, i dont think they will be championship contenders right away, but they will be good, look at haas when tony and ryan got there, lucky if they were top 35, now they have all these wins and a championship, and i think matty would bring that to MA, the chance to win a race, right away...

I understand that MJ, but there was a lot more in place when Tony went to Haas. I think most of what he (Tony) contributed was from what he learned at JGR. That you have to surround yourself with talented people. He made more personnel changes than anything else, plus he'd won 2 championships. Wasn't it because of how Matt won his championship that NASCAR started the Chase? If I remember correctly, he had only 1 win but he was in the top 5 or 10 for every race that season. The other thing that worries me is his championship provisional is only good for the first 5 races. And we all know he usually doesn't qualify very well. I would like him to go to a proven team. The other thing that sticks in my mind is that he said he was going to a new team. That doesn't mean it couldn't be a 4th team for someone. That would still be a new team. Also, in an interview a little bit ago, he said he doesn't control when the announcement will come, but he'd like to get it out of the way "so that both car groups could get on with it." He was referring to the distractions that this is causing. I'm hoping that means JGR...

I understand that MJ, but there was a lot more in place when Tony went to Haas. I think most of what he (Tony) contributed was from what he learned at JGR. That you have to surround yourself with talented people. He made more personnel changes than anything else, plus he'd won 2 championships. Wasn't it because of how Matt won his championship that NASCAR started the Chase? If I remember correctly, he had only 1 win but he was in the top 5 or 10 for every race that season. The other thing that worries me is his championship provisional is only good for the first 5 races. And we all know he usually doesn't qualify very well. I would like him to go to a proven team. The other thing that sticks in my mind is that he said he was going to a new team. That doesn't mean it couldn't be a 4th team for someone. That would still be a new team. Also, in an interview a little bit ago, he said he doesn't control when the announcement will come, but he'd like to get it out of the way "so that both car groups could get on with it." He was referring to the distractions that this is causing. I'm hoping that means JGR...

I hope it means Andretti. But like it has been said before. I agree with you Rochelle. Money doesnt necessarily mean success. Red Bull thought they could buy their way into being a Championship contender, & well that didnt work out so well for them. Although if Kenseth did go to Andretti, he would be a higher caliber driver than what Red Bull picked. I just hope if Kenseth took the chance at going to a brand new Cup owner, then I hope he has somekind of partnership in it.

chahaha, but as i been posting MA doesnt do anythin half ash

Bull, Andretti do everything half ash..

if matty has signed with them, im sure they have a sponsor lined up

yep, Jack didnt find sponsor for Matt, Michael will find? I dont believe..

look at haas when tony and ryan got there, lucky if they were top 35, now they have all these wins and a championship, and i think matty would bring that to MA, the chance to win a race, right away...

look at andretti when he bought team.. He change championship team to middlepacker team

look at andretti team stats this year, they improved............

as far as a sponsor, RFR is piecing races together, nothing was definite, only sponsor they had lined up before daytona was best buy and that was for 9 races, Roush even said he wanted to focus on carl and made sure he had sponsors,

and your last comment, sounds like a personal opinion which you are more than entitled to have, i go by facts..

thanks for TRYING to pick apart what i said, good luck next time

Andretti may not be as good as Penske or Ganassi in Indycar for sure. But they are not midpackers. They have been just a tick off the last few seasons. But they just won the last two races! Ryan Hunter Reay is second in points. James Hinchcliffe is fifth.

I don't see how any Tony Stewart or Ryan Newman fan could doubt another driver going into an interesting situation. Everyone was doubting Tony and thought Ryan was the guy that was crazy enough to join him. A championship,, 16 wins, five chase berths out of six tries later and they made everyone eat crow.

Andretti is a good car owner and he wouldn't go into NASCAR just to say he is like Penske or Ganassi. Though by the way Jack Roush is talking I don't think Kenseth will be the one in his seat. He said Kenseth is going to the "dark side" and I assume he means Toyota. That would have been cool to see that happen.

I think Andretti is going to go with a former champion. Kurt Busch has been rumored to be going there. A top cc said they would follow Kurt Busch today if he went to Andretti.

Andretti has the money and he can attract the people. WIth two good drivers they could be pretty good off the bat.

...from what I've heard, the consensus OPINION is, JGR for Matty.