Earlier in March, the Penske Team, the only Dodge outfit in the series, had announced that it will return to Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. According to team manager Roger Penske, competing as the lone Dodge black sheep on the grid proved to be a great challenge. "When we weighted the plus and minus of opportunities, it was apparent to us we need to win NASCAR Sprint Cup championships. We've been trying to do it alone. But having the opportunity to benchmark with someone like Roush, who has been world class as we saw with the performance last week with Kenseth (winner of 2012 Daytona 500) and how good their cars are, we felt it was time to evaluate other options."
Since Penske's termination and departure from Dodge, SRT president and CEO Ralph Gilles admitted that the iconic brand has done everything it could in terms of reaching out to various prospective partners to keep its commitment to NASCAR going. However, despite a strong 2012 season and strong performances for the championship and nationwide, a deal with a new team was ultimately not in the cards.
Dodge had left NASCAR before back in 1977, but since its return in 2001, Dodge has won more than 50 races. In addition, Dodge has been more financially committed to its NASCAR efforts this year than it ever had before.
Only days before the official statement of NASCAR withdrawal from Dodge, SRT boasted promising efforts from its Viper GTS-R's debut Mid-Ohio ALMS race. Mopar fans can rest assured that the engineers at SRT and Dodge still have spirit in them yet.
To learn more, watch the video of SRT president and CEO Ralph Gilles addressing the NASCAR pullout below:
