Petty talks about #9 driver plans

Sam Hornish Jr. just could not write a big enough check to buy his ride

A week after indicating that Sam Hornish Jr. is unlikely to retain his seat in the #9 Ford for 2016, team co-owner and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series driving champion Richard Petty provided an update on the search for Hornish's replacement. "Right now we're just sort of in limbo," Petty said at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"We're talking to a couple or three different drivers and a couple different sponsor deals, so all of it's got to come together. The way it is today you might want a driver but you can't get anybody to back him up, and then you might can get the sponsor and then that'll get the driver. It's a chess game right now, and we think we're almost there, but we're not there right yet."

Among the more prominent drivers yet to nail down plans for 2016 are XFINITY Series veteran and former Cup driver Regan Smith, Michael Waltrip Racing's David Ragan and newly minted 2015 XFINITY Series champion Chris Buescher. Whether any of the above names are candidates for RPM's #9 remains to be seen, but this much is clear: Unless a driver can bring sponsorship, he's probably not going to get much consideration from RPM. That Hornish wasn't able to attract enough funding to keep the #9 team afloat speaks to the overall state of the sponsor climate in NASCAR.

"It's the same way with other teams," Petty said. "You go talk to Hendrick, they're out there struggling right now, Roush is struggling, Gibbs is struggling. Every team is struggling to try to fill their particular cars. Some of them has got them filled pretty good, some of them has got them maybe halfway and they're still struggling to get it done. It's just a trend of the times right now, and it's tough on everybody. It doesn't make any difference if you're winning races or not winning races; it's just tough." FoxSports