Richard Petty Motorsports announced Monday that it would be swapping the crews for it's No. 43 team of Aric Almirola and No. 9 team of Marcos Ambrose for the remainder of the season.
The swaps include crew chiefs, as Mike Ford moves to the No. 9 and Todd Parrott moves atop Almirola's box.
"We're continuing to make improvements at Richard Petty Motorsports and we've added talented people to our organization this season," RPM director of competition Sammy Johns said in a release. "This move is to make sure that we are using that talent to the fullest to get the best results for our teams each weekend. We feel this adjustment will strengthen the organization, allow us to continue to compete for wins and ultimately challenge for championships."
Ford was Denny Hamlin's crew chief in 2011, and replaced Greg Erwin as Almirola's crew chief after the first nine races of the season. Almirola's highest finish in the 17 races they were together was a 6th place finish at Dover.
Ambrose and Parrott have won the last two Watkins Glen races and had eight top 10s in 26 races this season. Ambrose is currently 15th in the points standings.
A large piece of the sponsorship puzzle at Stewart-Haas Racing for 2013 has been found.
And here we are at last, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in position for a championship. He's in his best position standings-wise in nearly a decade, and he's running better, in an aggregate sense, than he ever has in his career. (His average finish of 9.9 is more than two positions better than he's ever recorded before.)
