NASCAR: Richard Petty Motorsports set for big announcement next week

By Asher Fair | May 17, 2019

FORT WORTH, TX - MARCH 29: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #43 World Wide Technology Chevrolet, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on March 29, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images) /

NASCAR Cup Series team Richard Petty Motorsports are reportedly set to make a big announcement at some point before next Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.

Between this Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and next Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at the same four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Concord, North Carolina, NASCAR Cup Series team Richard Petty Motorsports are reportedly set to make a big announcement.

The news that the one-car team are set to make a big announcement and the fact that nothing more is confirmed about the matter has naturally prompted all kinds of rumors, many of which negative.

This negativity comes from the fact that Richard Petty Motorsports have been and still are in dire need of funding, and that is no secret, nor has it been. Some of this negativity has even led to speculation that the team will shut down, perhaps even within the next few weeks.

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Additionally, the team’s results have been lackluster, specifically since the start of the 2018 season after they switched their manufacturer from Ford to Chevrolet, formed a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing and replaced the Stewart-Haas Racing-bound Aric Almirola with Darrell Wallace Jr.

The 25-year-old Mobile, Alabama native replaced Almirola in four of the seven races that he missed in the 2017 season as a result of the fact that he was injured, and he did a solid job in these four races, especially considering the fact that he had never previously competed in a Cup Series race.

However, in the 48 races that have been contested since the start of the 2018 season, Wallace Jr. has recorded only three top 13 finishes. He finished in second place in the 2018 season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway before finishing in eighth in the March race at Texas Motor Speedway and 10th in the November race at ISM Raceway.

Through 12 races in the 2019 season, he has finished in the top 20 only twice, and he has not yet finished in the top 16. His season-high finish is his 17th place finish in the March race at Martinsville Speedway, and he also finished in 20th in the April race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He currently sits in 29th out of 31 full-time drivers in the championship standings.

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Will Richard Petty Motorsports’ announcement be a positive announcement or a negative announcement? If it is a positive announcement, what will it pertain to, and if it is a negative announcement, will it mean the end of the team’s run in the NASCAR Cup Series?

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