Richard Petty Motorsports - Wikipedia.com

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Richard Petty Motorsports (formerly Gillett Evernham Motorsports) is a racing team in NASCAR. It is owned by Montreal Canadiens owner and Liverpool F.C. co-owner George Gillett and seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Richard Petty. Team founder and former NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham and private-equity firm Boston Ventures own minority stakes in the team. [1] Evernham had previous experience as a car owner in the NASCAR Nationwide Series co-owning Jeff Gordon's car with Gordon's ex-wife, Brooke Gordon, creating Gordon/Evernham Motorsports.

On August 6, 2007, it was announced that Gillett had purchased a majority share in the team, then known as Evernham Motorsports, and that the name had been changed. The transaction was similar to the creation of Roush Fenway Racing.[2]

In January 2009 GEM completed a merger with Petty Enterprises and brought the team's famous #43 car into the fold. Owner George Gillett told reporters that the team would change names to reflect the merger, with Richard Petty Motorsports or Gillett Petty Motorsports being two of the potential names. The team finally decided on the former name on January 19, 2009 [3] .

The combined team currently fields the #9 Budweiser Dodge Charger for Kasey Kahne, the #19 Best Buy/Stanley Tools/McDonald's Dodge Charger for Elliott Sadler, the #43 U.S. Air Force/McDonald's Dodge Charger for Reed Sorenson, and the #44 Valvoline Dodge Charger for A. J. Allmendinger.