Brian Scott will drive No. 44 in 2016
The No. 9 is now the No. 44.
Richard Petty Motorsports announced Monday that Brian Scott would drive the No. 44 for the team. The car was the No. 9 car in 2015 with Sam Hornish Jr. at the wheel.
“After the 2015 season, we had an opportunity to make some changes and get the No. 44 back,” Richard Petty said in a statement. “We felt that it was good timing. We really wanted to get that number back in the Petty family where it really belongs. Brian (Scott) is coming on board, and he really hasn’t had a number in the Sprint Cup Series. Everything has just come together to really bring back a Petty tradition.”
The No. 44 will team with Aric Almirola’s No. 43.
The No. 44 has been driven by the Petty family throughout NASCAR’s history. Kyle Petty was the last Petty to drive the No. 44 and ran it from 1997-2000.
Since Petty drove it, the No. 44 has been driven by Steve Grissom, Buckshot Jones, Dale Jarrett (with Michael Waltrip Racing), David Reutimann, AJ Allmendinger and others. The No. 44 last made a Sprint Cup Series start in the 2015 Daytona 500 when Team XXXtreme made the race. You may remember them as the team that allegedly had its car stolen from an Atlanta-area hotel parking lot a week later.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
