Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Canadian Patrick Carpentier has signed on to drive the #10 Dodge next year in Cup for GEM. Sponsor and possible new car number are still yet to be determined. This also leaves David Stremme out in the cold as he was in the running for this seat.

This information was ‘leaked’ earlier Wednesday and when Ray Evernham was approached about it, he denied any knowledge of Patrick’s signing, although he did admit that Patrick was being considered for the ride.

Later in the day an official announcement was made by co-owner of GEM, George Gillette.

“We are excited to add Patrick Carpentier to our organization for 2008,” said George Gillett. “Patrick has shown tremendous talent in every series he has driven throughout his career and has a bright future in NASCAR.

“We are committed to giving Patrick the best resources and opportunities available to make this transition, and we look forward to a great deal of success together both on and off the track.”

I wonder how much Ray was out in the dark on this signing, after all Ray is now a minority owner in this organization with Gillette being the controlling owner. I would hope that Ray was just playing possum with the media until there was an official announcement and that he was not left out on this deal.

I also wonder if there is enough time for GEM to get him ready, and approved, for the Daytona 500. Will this mean an early exit of current driver Scott Riggs? Maybe, the team has struggled all year and is well below the coveted 35th position in points so a driver change won’t hurt the team.

Anyway, having Carpentier and Villeneuve in the same series will be very interesting to say the least. Both are in their mid-thirty’s (both are 36 I believe) and are from Quebec. Cool. Now all we need is to get Ron Fellows a full-time ride.

Photo Credit: Couldn’t find one. If you know let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.