Allmendinger, Petty Sign 9-Race Deal

A.J Allmendinger, after an interesting month of rumors, finally has nailed down a ride for a portion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The former open-wheel driver with five Champ Car wins to his credit and two seasons of Sprint Cup racing with Team Red Bull that ended in 2008 signed with Richard Petty Motorsports Wednesday for up to two years.

The contract, at the moment, has afforded Allmendinger -- ousted by Team Red Bull towards the end of the 2008 season in favor of the unproven, yet talented Scott Speed -- nine races at the start of 2009 including next weekend's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

From there, Allmendinger will attempt to race the next eight races in the No. 44 RPM Dodge, including the season-opening Daytona 500. The team's main goal is for A.J. to race the entire season for the now-four car operation at RPM, but as of yet, sponsorship to do so hasn't materialized.

Allmendinger's contract also includes an option for the 2010 season with RPM.

Richard Petty, who merged his Petty Enterprises team with fellow Dodge competitor Gillett-Evernham Racing just weeks ago, had some good words to say about Allmendinger's work with the team so far in 2009.

From the team's press release:

"AJ has a ton of potential," said team owner Richard Petty. "I went testing with him a few weeks ago. When he climbed out of the car I think he went to everyone working on the car asking them questions and wanting to know what was going on. That's the kind of thing you want out of your driver. He's a young guy and I think we can help him and he can help us."

If you'll remember, Allmendinger just a month ago appeared to have lined up a full-time ride with the same Sprint Cup Series team after they had apparently booted a recently-extended Elliott Sadler from his No. 19 car. Over the course of the next week, Sadler's legal team filed notices of a potential lawsuit as some sponsors apparently backed away from the team after the unexpected move.

Sadler was later reinstated to the race car after Petty and GEM merged in a surprising turn of events. Now, Allmendinger and Sadler will have a chance to be teammates for 2009.