The name for the new team that emerged from the merger of Gillett Evernham Motors with what remained of Petty Enterprises was officially announced today, with the organization’s new moniker being Richard Petty Motorsports.

I’ll give team owner George Gillett credit. The Montreal Canadiens owner bought in the top brand in NASCAR history (he’s done it in two sports now!), and it seems as if he’s going to give the King a lot more say than the Boston Ventures cats who bought into Petty Enterprises last year.

BV will have a limited role in the new group, and that’s well and good considering the shape in which the Petty Enterprises franchise was left at the end of last year. Boston Venture’s timing in buying Petty last year couldn’t have been worse, what with the tanking economy and all.

Basically what you have with the new group is that Gillett is now full partner with Petty instead of Ray Evernham, whose departure from the organization he created is still somewhat of a mystery as to the whatfors and whatnots. Not a bad deal for Gillett, though, I’d say. The King is the King, and now he rejoins Robbie Loomis in Evernham’s old shop.

As for the crew of drivers … it’ll be interesting to see whether newcomer A.J. Allmendinger can make nice with Elliott Sadler, the driver of the 19 who almost got booted to make room for ‘dinger. But that’s why you have contracts, I s’ppose. Allmendinger has a part-time ride for next year, with Sadler back in the 19, Kasey Kahne in the 9 and Reed Sorenson in Petty’s famed 43. That’s an OK lineup to start, not in the class of the Big Three superteams — Hendrick, Roush and Childress — but better than what Petty alone ended with last year.

Here’s the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service story about the merger …

It’s official: Richard Petty MotorsportsBy Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(January 19, 2009)

CONCORD, N.C. - If anyone had doubts about the survival of the Petty legacy, doubt no more.

In the wake of the recent announcement of a merger between Petty Holdings and Gillett Evernham Motorsports, Richard Petty and GEM principal Foster Gillett unveiled the new name of their combined organization, Richard Petty Motorsports, Monday on the Sprint Cup Media Tour.

A surprise guest at the announcement was AJ Allmendinger, who will compete in the first five races of the season for the organization that conveniently abbreviates as RPM and in selected races thereafter.

The team will field four cars in 2009: the full-time entries of Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Dodge), Elliott Sadler (No. 19) and Reed Sorenson (No. 43) and the part-time No. 44 that Allmendinger will drive.

Richard Petty said Boston Ventures, which entered a partnership with Petty Enterprises last summer, would play a minor role in the new organization. The seven-time champion also is eager to give Sorenson, who succeeds Bobby Labonte in the No. 43, any help or advice he’s asked to provide.

“Right now, he’s 22 years old, so he’s pretty open-minded,” Petty said of Sorenson. “So he’s never set in his ways about how things are supposed to be done. I think he’s a quick learner-we’ll find out.”

Gillett said he had no qualms about what amounts to taking the Gillett name off the door.

“It was the right decision,” Gillett said. “I don’t think anyone ever contemplated anything else. The name made a lot of sense, and it was something we were very proud to do-and we look forward to trying to live up to the great expectations.”

Allmendinger impressed the brass at GEM last year when he posted an average finish of 16.4 in a fill-in role for the final five races of the season.

“I don’t think you can say enough about AJ, both as a talent and as a professional, said Mark McArdle, vice president and managing director of competition for RPM. “He’s a phenomenal competitor, he’s a wonderful teammate, and he’s certainly going to be a sparkplug in our organization.”

In late December, GEM tried to negotiate a buyout of Sadler’s contract with an eye toward putting Allmendinger in the No. 19.

Sadler, however, filed notice of intent to sue for breach of contract, naming GEM, Ray Evernham Enterprises, owner George Gillett and Allmendinger in the action. The sides settled, and Sadler kept his seat.

Allmendinger, who met with the principals in the deal for three hours Monday morning to hammer out details of his No. 44 ride, says the two can move past their plaintiff-defendant relationship and coexist as teammates.

“I have no problem with Elliott,” Allmendinger said. “I just want teammates that are fast, that I can go out there and learn from.”

Kahne and Sorenson attended Monday’s announcement, but Sadler, who was married during the offseason, was still on his honeymoon.

Note: Penske Racing announced Monday that rookie Justin Allgaier will run a full season in the Nationwide Series under sponsorship from Verizon Wireless. Alltel, which sponsored the No. 12 Dodge of Ryan Newman in the Sprint Cup Series last year, was acquired by Verizon, which is not allowed to have a presence in the Cup series because of NASCAR’s exclusivity agreement with title sponsor Sprint Nextel.

Though Verizon inherited Alltel’s multiyear sponsor agreement with Penske and will continue to fund the No. 12 Cup car, David Stremme (who succeeds Newman) will drive a car with a paint scheme to be unveiled later, without Verizon logos. All paint schemes must be approved by NASCAR.

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