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As speculated, Australian driver Marcos Ambrose has officially signed a multi-year contract to drive the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 Ford in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series beginning in 2011.In its announcement Tuesday, the team also confirmed that Stanley Black & Decker will now be the primary sponsor of the car next year, replacing Budweiser, which goes to Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet.
The move will reunite Ambrose with Ford Motor Company, which played a key role in bringing the former Australian V8 Supercar champ to America in 2006. He will replace Kasey Kahne, who revealed last week he is moving to Red Bull Racing for 2011 before joining the Hendrick Motorsports organization for 2012.
"It's a journey that I'm on -- this NASCAR journey -- (and) I'm very excited to be able to stay in the sport," Ambrose said during a press conference at Stanley's world headquarters in Connecticut.
Also, RPM announced last week that former open-wheeler A.J. Allmendinger will remain driver of the team's No. 43 Ford next season. Paul Menard will move from RPM to Richard Childress Racing in 2012, and it remains unclear where the RPM team's other driver, Elliott Sadler, will end up next season. Stanley has been a long-time sponsor of Sadler's No. 19 Ford at RPM.
Ambrose, 33, has three Nationwide Series victories -- all on road courses -- but is winless in two full-time seasons driving Toyotas for JTG/Daugherty Racing in the Sprint Cup Series.
"I wasn't sure what was in store for me and if I was ever gonna get another opportunity to compete at NASCAR's top level," Ambrose said after parting ways with the team. "I picked up the phone and started making phone calls. With the help of Ford, I was able to get talking to RPM and very quickly we realized that we both were very interested to work together."
"We helped Marcos come to America and become a NASCAR driver because we believed in his talent and loved the way he connected with Ford fans here and in Australia,'' said Jamie Allison, director of motorsports for Ford North America.
"We believe his move to RPM will give him the car and equipment to win races and contend for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup going forward.''
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