Team owner Steve Meehan said:

We feel incredibly fortunate to have David’s knowledge and experience to help launch our 2012 program and hopefully guide the team into the future.

 Additionally, GCMI’s will team up with Dave Jacombs Racing  to from GC Motorsports Canada, which will field two teams in NASCAR’s Canadia Tire Series in 2012. Andrew Ranger will drive one of those entries. He will also drive the Nationwide Series car in select races this season, including the series lone Canadian race, the Napa Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.  

The team expects to have more announcements on drivers and sponsorship in the coming weeks.

As a result of the rumored deal, Dave Blaney will need to qualify for the Daytona 500 on speed or he will need to race his way in the race through one of the duels.

David Reutimann is rumored to possibly run the No. 10 in the races Patrick does not enter. Patrick will drive SHR machines in her events, while Reutimann will drive TBR equipment in his events in the No. 10.

TBR will reportedly receive technical and pit crew support from SHR as a part of the deal.

After this deal was reported, a posting on TBR’s Facebook page stated:

Not everything you read is true my friends. I was born at night but not last night.

TBR followed that posting up with another:

Nobody has the correct information or is posting the correct information stay tuned we hope to get the correct story out soon.

Update: FoxSports.com is reporting that TBR has reached a deal with SHR.  Under the terms of the agreement, TBR will transfer the points from its No. 36 entry, which finished in the top 35 in owner’s points and therefore is guaranteed a starting spot in the first five Sprint Cup events in 2012, to the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevy, which will be driven by Danica Patrick in 10 races.

In the remaining 26 races, David Reutimann will drive the car.

Team owner Tommy Baldwin will have a hands-on presence with the No. 10 and will work closely with Greg Zipadelli, SHR’s competition director.

HMR plans to attempt the full schedule, except the Daytona 500, with their no. 52 car regardless of financial backing.

Team co-owner Jimmy Means said:

We’re not relying on sponsorship to determine where we go or not. We’re just trying to get all the pieces together and have some different equipment to have a legitimate chance of making the races. Sponsorship is not really an issue at this time, but [we're] looking for it.

The team wants to run complete races instead of starting and parking, but Means admitted that the team would probably need to do that to get their program started.

The team has narrowed its list of drivers, but no announcement has been made. They plan to announce a driver soon.

The team also plans to field the No. 52 Nationwide Series car full time.

The team plans to run the full races it enters, instead of starting and parking.

Speed said:

You can make more money doing (start-and-parks), for sure, but that’s not what Bob wants to do. We want to be professional about it. We’re going to look good, we’re going to have all of our stuff right and represent our brand and what we’re doing the right way and not just be another start-and-park team.

The team will field cars and engines purchased from Roush Fenway Racing. They do not plan to buy a superspeedway car, but they will buy a road course car because they feel they have a better chance at doing well in races that are more within their control.

The current plan is for this to be a one-off deal.

Veteran crew chief Gil Martin will be atop the pit box for Gaughan.

Gaughan said:

RCR has top-notch equipment and teamed me with a winning crew chief in Gil Martin. Everyone deserves a second chance and I am ecstatic that my second chance in the Sprint Cup Series is in the #33 Chevrolet with RCR.

Gaughan will also drive 18 races for RCR in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series with sponsorship from South Point.

Elliott Sadler will drive the No. 33 Cup Chevy in the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

The financial services institution will appear as primary sponsor on the car for five races in 2012: the March race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the April races at Martinsville Speedway and Richmond International Raceway, the May race at Darlington Raceway, and the June race at Dover International Speedway. BB&T will also be featured on a special paint scheme with Caterpillar during the Sprint All Star Race.

Team owner Richard Childress said:

BB&T has been a great partner of RCR over the years so we’re very pleased to renew our program with them. It’s always beneficial working with a partner like BB&T that has strong ties to the area.

According to AutoWeek.com, Ford designers took center stage in the development of this model.

In previous years, race teams built and designed Cup cars. For example, Penske Racing and Roush Fenway Racing designed the Ford Taurus that debuted in the series in 1998. This time around, NASCAR worked with the automakers’ designers to give the cars more brand identity.

Andy Slankard, of Ford Racing, said:

This time, we have had the luxury of support from the Ford Design Center to give us these sleek shapes and new look. Only designers could do that, not a bunch of engineers or race-car guys.

Garen Nicoghosian, who is heading up the Design Center portion of the Cup Fusion redesign, said:

There is a size difference between the production [car] and the race car, and the proportions are so different. The street Fusion is a front-wheel-drive, front-engine car and [the] race car is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive car with a really long hood and a much lower and wider stance. The fundamentally different profiles and proportions of the two vehicles, as well as other constraints, presented a bigger challenge than simply taking a Fusion and putting NASCAR stickers on it. … We paid close attention to the way we shaped the details on the racer, such as the headlight, grille and fog-light openings, as well as the body-side sections, character lines and overall surface language. When parked side by side, the racer and the street car “feel” the same, even though the two share no common surfaces.

Slankard added:

I think this is a nice, sporty version of the Fusion, and a lot of people will be excited about it.

TOR team owner, former CWTS, Nationwide, and Sprint Cup Series driver Stacy Compton, said:

It has always been our objective to grow the team and this is just the next step in that plan. We have a great group of partners behind us and feel like we are taking all the right steps to build a very competitive Sprint Cup team.

There has been no word from the team on sponsorship or a potential driver, but the team indicated that it has partnered with one of its “long-time supports” for a handful of events this coming season. Last season, the team’s No. 60 truck featured sponsorship from Fuel Doctor and Red Bull, while its No. 66 truck featured sponsorship from GoPro, the National Watermelon Promotion Board, and a few other sponsors. Fuel Doctor seems the most like the sponsor the team referred to in its release.

Cole Whitt and Justin Marks drove for the team last season. Whitt recently signed on to drive the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevy to replace Aric Almirola, who left to join Richard Petty Motorsports after AJ Allmendinger left to take over driving duties of the No. 22 Penske Racing Dodge vacated by Kurt Busch. Whitt could be the top candidate to drive TOR’s entry.

Other drivers without rides for next season are Brian Vickers, Landon Cassill, Travis Kvapil and JJ Yeley.

Kyle will drive the first fives races of the season including the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway. He will split the remaining races with Kurt, as the team will attempt to win the owner’s championship.

Monster Energy president Mark Hall said:

Monster Energy has always stood for competing and winning no matter what the sport. To make this happen, we’ve always sought out the most determined, fearless and committed athletes for the Monster team. With the Busch brothers sharing the wheel of the Kyle Busch Motorsports Monster Energy Camry, we have every reason to believe we have drivers capable of running up front every weekend.

Kyle added:

Since debuting in NASCAR, Kyle Busch Motorsports has had the goal to add a championship-caliber Nationwide Series team to our organization. With today’s announcement of Monster Energy as primary sponsor and my brother Kurt as the second driver, we’ve accomplished that goal. The Monster Energy team of athletes consists of champion performers united by a desire to be the best. Kurt and I share that same desire and will settle for nothing less than adding a NASCAR Championship to the long list of achievements for one of the strongest brands in the world.

Mike Beam will serve as the team’s crew chief. Beam has earned victories as a crew chief in all three national touring NASCAR series.

Kurt Busch will also drive select events for Phoenix Racing, for whom he drives in the Sprint Cup Series.