When NASCAR revs up for the 2013 Sprint Cup season at Daytona for the "Great American Race", Dodge will NOT be racing at all. That's because the automaker is leaving NASCAR completely, coinciding with news that team owner Roger Penske will be using Fords instead starting next season.

Penske's decision actually came last Thursday to trade in Dodge for Ford under terms of a new long-term deal with the automaker. Penske Racing teams had raced in Fords previously from 1994 to 2002 before switching to Dodge starting in 2003.

While the automaker, a unit of Chrysler Corporation, did unveil a vehicle they had hoped to use next season, they're not participating in a 2-day tire test of 2013 cars this week at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, VA. The decision also comes a day after Penske Racing announced they'll be using Roush-Yates engines next year, leaving no room for Dodge.

This is not the first time Dodge has driven out of NASCAR. They did so in 1977 and returned in 2001 with former crew chief turned ESPN analyst Ray Evernham leading the company's effort. That incarnation went to victory lane 50 times, 29 of which were won by Penske under the company banner. However, the automaker had fallen on hard times, and not just on the track in recent years.

Chrysler went through a government-backed Chapter 11 reorganization plan due to the recent recession. They resurfaced with Italian automaker Fiat now owning a majority of the company. Although they still are quite a player in other motorsports, its NASCAR program had dwindled in recent years. Evernham's team became Gillett-Evernham Motorsports and eventually got bought by the ownership group of Richard Petty Motorsports. Petty Enterprises had raced Dodges from 2001-08 before using Fords since 2009 under the current RPM.

Penske Racing only has 2 Dodges currently on the track in the NSCS, the #2 Miller Lite Dodge of Brad Keselowski & the #22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge now occupied by Sam Hornish, Jr. following last week's firing of A.J. Allmendinger for failing a drug test. While it remains to be seen if Hornish will remain in the #22 next year, Penske Racing's decision to drop Dodge leaves Ford, Chevrolet & TOYOTA as the lone vehicles remaining in both the NSCS & the lower-tier Nationwide Series starting next February.

I can't get anyone to go out with me but, that aside, I have decided I will not be taking anyone to the Prom.

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You know me like that.