Richard Petty Motorsports and Yates Racing plan to merge both operations for the 2010 NASCAR season and will field Fords for drivers Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, AJ Allmendinger and Paul Menard.

“This is a pretty big deal for us,” Richard Petty said of Thursday's announcement. “We’re thrilled to partner with Ford. We’ve talked with a lot of folks, but in the end it came down to the success the Gilletts and I think we can achieve with Ford Racing. Right now this deal is real new. There are lots of details still left to be ironed out so we don’t have a lot of answers for anyone right now."

Richard Petty is no stranger to Ford, having won NASCAR races with the brand in 1969.

Doug Yates, co-owner of Yates Racing will build engines for the new team. No formal announcement was made as to which shop the team will operate from.

No sponsor announcements were made in the deal that apparently leaves Reed Sorenson without a ride for next year.

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