■ AJ Allmendinger has a guaranteed ride with Richard Petty Motorsports next season, the team announced yesterday, but is still in limbo this season. RPM said that details on sponsors and a car number for 2010 are not complete.
"I'm thrilled about this," Allmendinger said. "Racers are no different than anyone else. We like to know we have a job. I'm very thankful to be where I am, and I expect we will keep running better and better each weekend. I think I have found a long-term home at Richard Petty Motorsports."
The agreement does not guarantee anything for this season, which Allmendinger has been piecing together. Allmendinger's original deal to race the No. 44 Dodge for RPM for the first eight races this season has been extended twice, and he's guaranteed a seat until September. The final 10 races are so far unfunded.
But that didn't stop RPM officials from promising Allmendinger a full 2010 season.
"This was an easy decision for Richard Petty Motorsports," said Tom Reddin, RPM's chief executive officer. "AJ has done a superb job, both on and off the track in 2009. We want to let everyone know that he's going to be a vital part of Richard Petty Motorsports for what we believe will be a long-term, winning relationship."
Allmendinger is 20th in the standings, only 104 points out of 12th place and the final qualifying spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
■ Roush-Fenway Racing made changes to Carl Edwards' pit crew yesterday, the result of a botched front-tire change that cost Edwards a shot at winning at Texas Motor Speedway two weekends ago.
Edwards is at Phoenix International Raceway with new rear-tire changer Brandon Hopkins. Chad Edwards moves to front-tire changer from the rear.
Edwards said he's nervous about using new personnel in tonight's race because "it's going to be imperative to have great pit stops. It could be pivotal if you have a bad one."
■ Brazilian race-car driver Helio Castroneves was acquitted yesterday of most charges that he worked with his sister and lawyer to evade more than $2.3 million in U.S. income taxes.
A federal jury in Miami acquitted Castroneves on six counts of tax evasion but hung on one count of conspiracy. The jury also acquitted Katiucia Castroneves, Helio's sister and business manager, on the tax-evasion counts but also hung on the conspiracy. Michigan attorney Alan Miller, 71, was acquitted on all three counts of tax evasion and one count of conspiracy. The jury deliberated six days after a six-week trial.
Castroneves, speaking in his native Portuguese, expressed profound relief.
All three faced more than six years in prison if convicted of conspiracy and tax evasion between 1999 and 2004. The case mainly revolved around income from a $2 million sponsorship deal that Castroneves had with the Brazilian firm Coimex and his $5 million licensing deal he reached with Penske Racing in late 1999.
■ Michigan International Speedway plans a $17 million renovation of its terrace suites and media center.
Demolition and construction will begin after the Sprint Cup race in mid-August, and officials say that the track will be ready for the 2010 season.
The plan calls for 30 corporate suites on the second floor, including movable walls so the size of suites can be adjusted. The first floor will house a media, technology and meeting center and rooms for press conferences and team meetings. The project also calls for modifying pit road and the fire lane and moving the fueling station.
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