NASCAR Silly Season 2012: Kurt Busch Signs With Furniture Row Racing

On the same day Richard Petty Motorsports signed an extension with manufacturer Ford for the 2013 season, driver Marcos Ambrose said he plans to stick around next year, too.

“We are all squared away as far as what the expectations are on both sides and it is just a matter of finishing it off at this point,” Ambrose said in quotes released by Ford. “I can’t see any reason why I wouldn’t want to be a part of Richard Petty Motorsports in 2013.”

Kurt Busch has agreed to drive the No. 78 car for Furniture Row Racing in 2013, replacing Regan Smith, the team announced Monday.

“Furniture Row Racing has the commitment, talent and resources to compete at a high level in the Sprint Cup Series,” Busch said in a statement released by the team. “I have watched with admiration on how this team has grown over the years and that is why I am excited about the opportunity as I eagerly look forward to a new chapter in my racing career.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will have the National Guard on his car for 20 races in 2013, but what company will sponsor the other 16 events?

That question remains unclear as of Friday, and Earnhardt Jr. said current sponsor Diet Mountain Dew is “going to back off a little bit” next season.

Despite four victories and sitting atop the NASCAR Nationwide Series point standings, Elliott Sadler confirmed he will not be returning to Richard Childress Racing in 2013.

“We’ll probably go our separate ways at the end of the season,” Sadler said Friday at Richmond. “...It looks like I will not be a part of RCR next year.”

Ryan Newman will return to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2013, he said Thursday. But it’s unclear exactly which companies will sponsor the driver’s No. 39 ride when it hits the track next season.

Newman, speaking to reporters at Richmond International Raceway, said SHR has yet to sign any sponsors for his car in 2013.

When Kurt Busch parted ways with Penske Racing and its No. 22 car last season, team president Tim Cindric placed a call to Joe Gibbs Racing at the urging of Brad Keselowski.

Keselowski, it seems, has a big influence on the day-to-day decision-making at Penske and thought Joey Logano would be a good fit as his teammate.

AJ Allmendinger’s loss turned out to be Joey Logano’s gain.

After Allmendinger tested positive for amphetamines and was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR, Penske Racing released the driver and had to make a decision as to who would drive its No. 22 Shell-sponsored car next season and beyond.

Though his departure from Roush Fenway Racing was announced in June, Matt Kenseth couldn’t officially reveal his future ride for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for months.

Everyone knew it was Joe Gibbs Racing, but Kenseth wouldn’t bite on questions from reporters and fans about where he was headed next – and the team wouldn’t make it official.

Two more pieces of NASCAR’s Silly Season puzzle will fall into place Tuesday as Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano will officially make their future racing plans public.

In essence, one driver is arriving at Joe Gibbs Racing while the other is leaving.

Office Depot, which served as the primary sponsor for Tony Stewart’s No. 14 car in 22 races this season, announced Sunday it will not return in the same role next season.

The decision leaves a major hole in the sponsor lineup at Stewart-Haas Racing, as Stewart has Mobil 1 for 14 races in 2013 but now needs to find another company to support his racing efforts for the majority of the season.

Michael Waltrip Racing confirmed what has long been rumored on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway: Both Martin Truex Jr. and Napa Auto Parts have signed three-year contract extensions to stay together.

The announcement marks a culmination in what has been a career year for Truex. With two weeks to go in the regular season, he finds himself fifth in points and is all but guaranteed a spot in the Chase for just the second time in seven full seasons in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Trevor Bayne will return to a full-time NASCAR ride for the first time since 2010 – before he became a Daytona 500 winner – if all goes as planned with Roush Fenway Racing next season.

Bayne reiterated Friday that team owner Jack Roush intends to run him full-time in the Nationwide Series next season – with the team Ricky Stenhouse Jr. uses now – and said “it sounds like (the plan) is in concrete.”

Has Joey Logano inquired about the possibility of driving Penske Racing’s No. 22 car next year?

Logano was asked that very question on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and he didn’t exactly deny his interest if the ride becomes available.

The U.S. Army will no longer be a NASCAR sponsor.

Stewart-Haas Racing announced Tuesday that the Army, which currently is a part-time primary sponsor of Ryan Newman’s No. 39 car, is ending its presence in NASCAR after this season due to a reallocation of its marketing budget.

Martin Truex Jr. and Napa are close to a contract extension with Michael Waltrip Racing, team owner Michael Waltrip told SBNation.com on Tuesday via phone.

Both Truex and Napa had deals that were set to expire at the end of this season, and Truex was under pressure to perform heading into the year.

Amid news of a contract extension for Denny Hamlin and speculation swirling around Matt Kenseth’s possible arrival at Joe Gibbs Racing next year, team owner Joe Gibbs said Saturday at Kentucky Speedway that his top priority was re-signing Joey Logano.

Logano, 22, who is in a contract year, has five NASCAR Nationwide Series victories and one Sprint Cup win to his credit this year and has begun to blossom in his pairing with first-year Cup crew chief Jason Ratcliff.

After speaking with Matt Kenseth via phone on Wednesday afternoon, I feel like I have a better grasp on why he made the decision to leave Roush Fenway Racing for a yet-to-be-named team (likely Joe Gibbs Racing).

While Kenseth can’t or won’t say everything that led to his decision, he was very forthcoming about the details he felt he could talk about.

Rarely is there a transaction in NASCAR that’s favorable to both parties. However, in the case of Matt Kenseth’s decision to leave Roush Fenway Racing for Joe Gibbs Racing (reportedly), that’s exactly what it was.

For whatever reason, Jack Roush wasn’t able to find a company willing to sign on and sponsor Kenseth long-term this season. Instead, Kenseth has had a revolving door of sponsors footing the bill and even then, it still wasn’t enough as the defending winner of the Daytona 500 still had to run several races unsponsored.