“We’re continuing to make improvements at Richard Petty Motorsports, and we’ve added talented people to our organization this season,” RPM Director of Competition Sammy Johns said. “This move is to make sure that we are using that talent to the fullest to get the best results for our teams each weekend.”

The pairing of Ambrose and Parrott got RPM its lone win this season, coming at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) in August. Almirola does not have a Sprint Cup win to his credit.

“Aric has really shown the desire and dedication to get his first Sprint Cup Series win, his new crew chief, Parrott said. “It was great our team helped lead Marcos to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win and poles. We are now ready to help direct Almirola and the No. 43 team to the same results and better.”

While the goal for Parrott is to get Almirola his first win, Ford hopes to add to Ambrose’s win total.

“Marcos is a racer who has proven to win poles and races,” Ford said. “Our goal is to take my experiences and make sure we can consistently run up front and continue to win races.”

Both Ford and Parrott are winning crew chiefs, several times over. Parrott has guided teams to 31 Sprint Cup wins, not to mention a Sprint Cup title. Ford, meanwhile, has 25 race wins on his resume.

With 10 races remaining in the 2012 season, the change becomes effective immediately. The competitive debut of the new pairings will come Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.

– Photo courtesy of Getty Images for NASCAR

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As I watched The King talking with his young driver after qualifying at the Charlotte Motor Speedway was completed Friday night, I began trying to remember what I was doing 46 years ago. The reason 1966 became significant? That was the last time the famous #43 sat on the pole at this race, and the King himself, had put it there. This night however, would belong to Aric Almirola.

Richard Petty Motorsports drivers  Aric  Almirola and Marcos Ambrose will own the front row Sunday night when they lead the rest of the field to the Green Flag for the Coca Cola 600 at the Concord North Carolina race track. This is the first pole of Almirola’s career, and was the result of a blistering lap of 27.988 sec(192.940 mph) late in the session as the track was cooling down.

Almirola gave credit for his performance to new Crew Chief Mike Ford, and said the U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion unloaded fast. The King asked him after qualifying if he had scared himself with that lap. It is only fitting that a car wearing a Military sponsor sit on the pole for a race that will honor our fallen Military Heroes.

Jimmie Johnson was the first to put some excitement into the crowd when he put his Lowes Chevrolet on the provisional pole with a 28.217  sec. lap at 191.374 mph. That time would withstand an assault from Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jimmie would be bumped to the second row by Almirola’s teammate Marcos Ambrose.

Trevor Bayne was the  top “Go Or Go Home” qualifier on the evening, nailing down a 13th place starting position. Not so lucky were J.J Yeley, Mike Bliss, David Reutimann and Scott Speed. Reutimann has to qualify on speed because of an agreement that gaurantee’s  Danica Patrick a starting position based on owner points. As such, Danica will roll off 40th Sunday Night and Davind Reutimann loads up and goes home.

Race Fans in attendance, cheered as Kurt Busch lost control of his Phoenix Racing Chevrolet and tagged the outside wall, then slamming  into the inside safe barrier. Busch’s car looked to be very loose, and you could see he was having trouble on the warm-up lap, trying to get it under control. He eventually lost it going onto turn 3, and crashed. Kurt Busch will make the field on points, and roll off 42nd.

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