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Were you surprised by today’s announcement that Robby will end his association with Ford Racing and - as a consequence - leave the outer web of Jack Roush’s Ford Super Team?
NASCAR’s last real owner-driver will now fight the good fight with assistance - both technical and reportedly marketing - from Gillette-Evernham Motorsports. That’s GEM as in Dodge.
I speculated late last season that Robby Gordon Motorsports might join the Wood Brothers and form a Ford team more able to survive the new NASCAR. But others think that Gordon and Ford Racing just didn’t match up.
Well it’s over now and Ford Racing is the worse for it too. The Cat in the Hat’s web is down to the four Roush rides, the two Fusions of Doug Yates’ struggling satellite and the venerable Wood Brother’s one or two cars. There’s a real possibility of Chevy, Dodge and Toyota all having more qualifiers for the Daytona 500 than Ford.
Gillette-Evernham pick up a top thirty five qualified, satellite fourth car and one of the most talented drivers in the series.
RGM gets one more chance to prove that they can thrive in a competitive environment so hostile to single car operations that long term survival is a bad bet. I heard speculation as recently as last December that RGM might field a second car - maybe for Brendan Gaughan. That will probably have to wait now. There’s a race in a couple weeks. There are Dodges to build.
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