The NASCAR Media Tour rolled into Charlotte this week and brought with it news from around the sport. The newly merged Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Enterprises officially became Richard Petty Motorsports. The team announced plans to run the #9 with Kasey Kahne, the #19 with Elliott Sadler, the #43 with Reed Sorenson and the #44 part time with AJ Allmendinger. Despite cuts at Earnhardt-Ganassi earlier in the week team president Steve Lauletta said they planned to run three teams with a fourth at Daytona. Target movedto the #42 with Juan Pablo Montoya. No word on the potential fourth at Daytona. Elsewhere from the media tour we learned Penske would continue with what amounts to invisible sponsorship from Verizon. And a new team formed by Chicago businessman and NASCAR owner Armando Fitz was announced. The team, Trail Motorsports, plans to run cars in the Nationwide, Truck and Camping World East Series. This is the NASCAR week that was, January 18 to 24, 2009.

Ganassi confident changes have improved prospects

Memo to NASCAR’s PR Summiteers

But, really, what did you expect them to say

Jeremy Mayfield is among 15 people to have applied for Sprint Cup ownership

On-Air Mistake Finally Shows Real NASCAR Problems

Vintage Insiders

The Hat Dance

The Most Powerful Men in NASCAR

Don’t forget to check out the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona this weekend:
Jan 24, 3:00 PM ET, FOX
Jan 24, 4:30 PM ET, SPEED
Jan 25, 7:00 AM ET, SPEED

**Remember if you have a NASCAR blog or website and would like a recent article you wrote featured in this section email me and you could be part of next week’s NASCAR Week That Was. Please only send stuff you have written.**

Related posts:

• The NASCAR Week That Was: Feb. 8-14
• The NASCAR Week That Was: Jan. 17-23
• The NASCAR Week That Was: 14-20
• The NASCAR Week That Was: Feb. 15-21
• The NASCAR Week That Was: Jan. 24-30