Almirola in Petty #43

Jan 4, 11:32 AM EST

Aric Almirola to drive No. 43 for RPM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Richard Petty Motorsports has hired Aric Almirola to drive the famed No. 43 in NASCAR's elite Sprint Cup Series.

Almirola is leaving a job driving for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series to take over the car seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty made famous.

Almirola replaces AJ Allmendinger. He left the team last month to take a job at Penske Racing.

Almirola has 35 career starts in the Sprint Cup Series but none since he drove the last five races of the 2010 season. He finished a career-high fourth in the 2010 season finale at Homestead.

Almirola finished fourth last season in the Nationwide standings. JR Motorsports did not immediately announce a replacement.

So, does the 43 have a good sponsor? Or did Jack Rousch screw that up too?

I bet we could raise a substantial sum from race fans if the "King" were to field a car that had "SOUTHEASTERN PLYMOUTH DEALERS" painted on its rear quarter panels.

Just for fun, here's a little excerpt from a year 2000 Car&Driver Magazine article by a former Chrysler Corp. engineer after the announcement that the Plymouth nameplate would be retired:

I haven't been drawn to Plymouth showrooms lately because nothing there appeals to me; more on this later. Besides, I already have a Plymouth. It's a 1966 Belvedere II hardtop, an unrestored survivor (rather like me) with a 426 Hemi. I've owned it 20 years, and as I look ahead to my geezerhood, if my clutch leg doesn't turn to Jell-O, I reckon I'll still own that old warrior when I finally shuffle off.

Old memories come alive again when I pull that four-speed's tall Hurst lever and hear the threatening rumble of the exhaust. I was a downy-cheeked Chrysler engineer when that car was new and Richard Petty was mopping up NASCAR in his blue Hemi Belvedere and Plymouth was part of the Big Three, third in sales behind Chevy and Ford.

Plymouth or Dodge? We engineers never cared one way or the other. Under their skins the two had exactly the same machinery, and they were built on the same assembly lines. Dodges were supposed to be "more car," which justified the slightly higher prices. But the "more car" was mostly illusory. For example, the Dodge Coronet had a 117-inch wheelbase in 1966, one inch longer than my Belvedere's. We made the Dodge longer with brackets that located the rear axle farther rearward. There was no benefit, just a number that seemed more valuable on the specification page.

Although Plymouths and Dodges were cooked up by the same engineers in the same pot, competing sales departments sold them, and the two fought harder between themselves than they did against Ford and GM. We engineers never understood all the fuss. Why not just combine the lines --call it Plodge --and get everyone on the same team?

But this sibling warfare seemed to pay off for Dodge. Plymouth sales sagged to fifth place in 1973, and as the '70s progressed, Dodge almost always had more models than Plymouth. By the early '90s, Dodge was outselling Plymouth by about two to one, a drastic reversal from the mid-'50s, when Plymouth overwhelmed Dodge by nearly three to one.

At the risk of taking the post about Aric's signing completely in an angled direction...

Its only been recently that I began to understand a bit more about the fierce competition amongst the business units of Plymouth & Dodge back in the early 70s. After Pete Hamilton left the 2nd Petty Plymouth team following the 1970 season, Buddy Baker was hired to drive a 2nd Petty DODGE beginning in 1971. That part I get. Petty Enterprises could then help Chrysler promote BOTH brands if Richard and Buddy were successful.

What I've never understood, however, is why PE ran car #11 for Buddy vs. something in the 40s as was the tradition for most of Petty Enterprises' history. All that's been suggested to me is that "it may have been a Dodge thing". That answer has never really gelled with me - but with this statement, I have come up with my own theory. Whether its fact or fiction, I don't know. But here goes.

Using a number (and car color) clearly different than Petty's Plymouth gave Baker's factory-supported, Petty-built Dodge a distinct took. Also, Ray Nichels was running an STP #99 Plymouth for Fred Lorenzen. Running a white #11 Dodge would be polar opposite labeling for the competition between the sister name plates.

Any insights, confirmation, rejection, etc.?