From a Penske source:


He said that he heard about Brad signing the deal on tuesday. He went on to say that a representative from Go Daddy was at the contract signing and the company agreed to bring the sponsorship along in the deal. Go Daddy is supposedly going to sponsor the 12 car for around 16-20 races next season. All parties involved want to keep all this on the down low for a few weeks and he said an official announcement could come around the Richmond race. So don't tell anyone. Razz

He also said that Stremme only had a one year deal in place to drive the 12 car and that it was performance based....meaning that if he didn't get it done this year, he would be gone. He went on to say that all the penske cars have the exact same equipment, same chassis, bodies and their motors are under a 3 HP difference. He said the main difference in the performance of the 3 teams lies in setups.....he stated that Kurt is exceptional at handling loose race cars and Hornish is adapting to those setups very well, however, Stremme can't handle driving a loose car and that is the main reason he is struggling. He also made a comment about Stremme not being consistant, saying that he runs lap times on pace with Kurt for about 3 laps and then falls of for 2 laps...management thinks he has some focus issues.

Furthering his talk about Hornish, he said that last year when that whole Helio/tax deal was happening...that Sam himself though that Helio was done and that he would be going back to IRL. Once Helio was cleared, he no longer had a ride over there and he knew he needed to step it up on the Cup side if he wanted a ride. He said everyone over at Penske is pleased with the way Hornish has improved this year and that he is safe for now.

Lastly, he talked briefly about the possibilty of switching manufacturers, saying that even with the new Dodge motor, he feels they are getting killed in HP. Combined with the fact that Dodge has pulled racing support, he says it is a 60% chance they switch to Toyota before next year.

As for expanding to a 4th car and news on Allgaier, he said there are absolutely no plans to expand to a 4th car, saying sponsorship wont allow this to happen. He said that he expects Allgaier to leave the organization to join SHR. Supposedly him and Smoke are close. Allgaier's dad owns and operates Hoosier Tire Midwest and from what he said, developed a close relationship with Stewart when he was coming up through the open wheel ranks. He said he wouldn't be suprised at all to see Justin in SHR's 3rd car whenever that happens.

that sucks for me, unless they switch to HMS chevy's. I'm a Brad guy, but Penske running Dodge or Toyota's......I don't know thats gonna be tough for me. I blame Mark Martin, azzhole.

Hope it's a good fit and he doesn't turn out like a lot Stremme(who I believe was promoted way too soon at Ganassi) and other young drivers who get thrown into a ride that isn't quite up to par. He knows the Hendrick stuff and it has shown, he was running Top 12 last week before the fuel mileage strategy kicked in. He should be ok at Penske if they give him some time to adjust, any word on if they were trying to get "Pops" to come with him as his crew chief?

Looks like this may be more of a loaner style deal. Hearing some of the comments yesterday, something didn't sound right. Hearing Hendrick's comments today seemed to make yesterday's odd comments make sense. Told my wife yesterday that it sounded like Penske might be getting him on a loan for a year or two by what Junior had said. Today Hendrick said something along the lines of, it's a short term deal so Brad can get some regular Cup level experience but that he plans to bring Brad back within the Hendrick camp very soon..........