NASHVILLE, TN.: Ahead of their inaugural season in the NASCAR Cup Series, GMS Racing and team owner Maury Gallagher have purchased a majority interest in Richard Petty Motorsports.
The majority purchase of the famed No. 43 NASCAR Cup Series team will secure the Statesville, N.C.-based operation two Cup Series charters for the 2022 Cup season.
Erik Jones is expected to retain one of the charters in the Richard Petty Motorsports famed No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, while Ty Dillon will pilot the No. 94 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, expecting to utilize the No. 51 Petty-Ware Racing charter that was operated by Rick Ware Racing this season.
RPM announced a contract extension with Jones this summer and recently executed a 26-race partnership with FOCUSfactor® for next season.
Dillon was officially welcomed to the GMS Racing Cup fold in October. Before Wednesday’s announcement, GMS Racing president Mike Beam said he was prepared to run Dillon’s Cup effort without a charter – if a deal could not be reached.
After his departure from Joe Gibbs Racing, Jones, a native of Byron, Mich. joined RPM in 2021 replacing Darrell Wallace Jr. and finished a season high seventh at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August and claimed 24th in the championship standings.
After running full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series for the previous four years, Dillon, the grandson of Cup team owner Richard Childress spent his year floating between the three national series of NASCAR.
“Richard Petty Motorsports has agreed to sell a majority interest to Maury Gallagher, owner of GMS Racing,” the two organizations said in a joint statement.
“Two charters are included in the agreement and will be operated during the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. This is a special moment for both organizations, as the Next Gen car allows a new chapter to be written.”
GMS Racing will invade the NASCAR Cup Series after a successful tenure in both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series. The team has scored 42 victories overall, 41 in the Camping World Truck Series and captured two driver’s championships in 2016 and 2020 with Johnny Sauter and Sheldon Creed respectively.
Additional details on the purchase will be unveiled on December 7 in an afternoon press conference at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in uptown Charlotte.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
