After Argument, Carpentier Done at GEM

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Reed Sorenson's future seat at Gillette-Evernham Motorsports might get a little cold before he takes the reigns of his new Dodge after Patrick Carpentier got the boot from the organization Tuesday afternoon.

Carpenter failed to make last Sunday's race at Talladega, and later had somewhat of a confrontation in plain view of the entire Talladega garage with his crew chief who blamed Patrick -- not the car -- as the reason the No. 10 car wasn't in the race.

Carpentier, who was already scheduled to leave the team at the end of 2009, later posted a response to the incident on his web site:

"I think it's a complete lack of respect," said Carpentier. "I never was shy to take the blame when I thought it was my fault, but here, everybody knows that it's like driving in a straight line."

"I've looked at the timing data and we were already three-tenths below the time we needed to qualify when I went below the line. I went low because I felt we had to try everything. I gave it all I had, but now he blames me? This is totally unacceptable. It's not as if my teammates were on the first row! They both ran slower than me!"

It's hard to deny Carpentier's logic, but at the same time, he and his publicist had to know that it was a risky move by posting the team's dirty laundry for everyone to see -- especially when its against a team that had a gossip-filled firing of Jeremy Mayfield a few years ago that revealed a team owner's relationship with a female driver, among other things.
Carpentier made 24 races in 2008 with a best finish of 14th and an average of 29th, though he won the pole for the first race New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June.

Mike Wallace will be in the No. 10 this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and A.J. Allmendinger will finish out the season after a stint in the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 00 at LMS.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-07-2008 @ 8:27PM

Maveness said...

Honestly, Evernham has a habit of running his shops stupidly. The crew chief chooses to scream at his driver in public, then Patrick should get the right to retaliate. Patrick has been nothing but amiable. As a crew chief, if you think it's the driver's fault, you take it behind closed doors. And if Ray wants to fire Patrick as a response to Patrick getting pissed, then it's just more evidence that Ray is a sad excuse for an owner.

10-07-2008 @ 11:08PM

Chris said...

I'm glad to see Patrick go public. Maybe other owners will see that Mayfield is not the only driver to have issues with GEM and give him another chance.

10-08-2008 @ 1:04AM

annaseitter said...

Scotch briggs,mayflower and now carpetyer all gone.
Who's next? Seems to me that RAY EVERGREEN has lately becomed everbrown and autumn dried up.
Jeff godon needs a crew chief big time and so does dej. Maybe ray eversomething should get back to his old job at HMS. JEFF needs him bad; they had a great combination before. Why not a repeat? Somebody will buy out GEM eventually.

10-08-2008 @ 1:05AM

Now lets be more serious: patrick acted as more than a gentleman by quitting and walking. Had ray evershiet scorned stewart or even jpm in public like that he 'd be collecting his teeth all over GEM and his face would probably require plastic surgery. BUT........................................... than we would have another negative blog on TS here on this pages; more bread for stewart haters teeth. Does not work for me....

10-08-2008 @ 6:15AM

DEBRA said...

IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE SOMEONE GETS MAD ENOUGH TO WRITE A NASCAR TELL ALL BOOK. CAN YOU IMAGINE? NO ONE WOULD BE SAFE! WE HAVE ALREADY GOT A GLIMPSE OF WHAT GOES ON IN THE MOTEL ROOMS, IF THAT MARCIA CHICK IS TO BE BELIEVED. AND THAT IS JUST FROM THE OFFICIALS! YOU CAN BET IF ANYONE STARTED DISSING ON THE CREWS AND DRIVERS AS JEREMY MAYFIELD DID ABOUT ONE OF THE OWNERS THEY WOULD HAVE A BEST SELLER! OR GET A HITMAN AFTER THEM-LOL

10-08-2008 @ 8:47AM

Kim said...

I agree with the sentiments expressed by others before me. GEM is definitely on their way out or down instead of on their way up. They continue to let talented drivers go (Mayfield in particular) and blame the driver when it's the car, the crews, and dare I even say, the owner who are the problem. Patrick has been the epitomy of professionalism since entering the Sprint Cup Series. His patience is a huge virtue. Frankly, I am surprised he is just now speaking out to the public. I admire his restraint thus far in keeping his mouth shut. He was an extremely talented driver in the IRL. The guy isn't just some common Joe who walked in off the streets and was put in a racecar. He has experience and sadly, apparently no one listened to him or gave him a fair chance to prove his talents.

Kim

10-09-2008 @ 9:12AM

CJ said...

I have to say, i think GEM has two very talented guys in landing Elliott Sadler and Reed Sorenson, i just think they dont have the equipment to show their true talent and they didnt have it at their previous teams either. im not a big fan of Kahne and i dont think he's that great of a driver, and just lucks out on getting wins and is very marketable for his looks. I miss the 9 car that had Bill Elliott in it and that was when i was a fan of Evernham, and i think Mayfield got what was coming to him and dont have any sympathy for him, but Evernham did Casey Atwood and Scott Riggs wrong in my opinion, and even Kahne said they did Riggs wrong. I liked Patrick's personality and attitude, i just didnt think he had what it took to cut it in the Sprint Cup series. Im glad Reed left Ganassi and was hoping he would do so, and i thought he was the most underrated talented driver on the free agency market and was in my opinion overlooked by alot of good teams. I thought he would've been a better fit at RCR and in my opinion has more talent than Casey Mears. I just hated that he signed with a crappy team like GEM.

10-09-2008 @ 10:34PM

RacerMom45 said...

Good driver...crew chief SUCKS! Patrick is better off without them!

10-09-2008 @ 11:14PM

Talking about arguments? Have ya all seen the aol nazcar front page?Big argument in lowes garage between k harfrick and c haywards. ACTUALLY WAS A FIGHT.Harfrick in a fight?
Haywards, not 1of my driver,never will be as long as he rides fords,as long as he rides for the brown hat man cryer,but in any fight i'll put my money on haywards before harfrick.
HARFRICK cannot even fight his way out of a paper bag and we seen it no too long ago when he tryed to act tough against JPM( another distetful driver).Even read on these pages before that his wife DELAILA takes care of kevin feuds with others.Anyway i read a little more and i'm thinking;harfrick had haywards in a head lock. GEEZE hatewards must been a sleep or drugged up. I read again and NOPE:it was a harvick crew member that head edwards in a head luck. OK, now the story seems real, now it's credible.The all event happened because harbrick still pissed off at haywards for causing the talladega wreck. Like harbick has any chance at winning the champ.
not even close.Like harfrick has any chance at beating haywards in a fight, sure. Well, do not hate or dislike harfrick either but come on the aol pole results says that harbick is more than a hot head than hedwards.N o way hose'. The poll is wrong and yet for a couple minutes , i thought harvick had suddenly turned in to supermen or chuck norris.Maybe he eat a lots of popeye spinache for breakfast and lunch. Something
made him feel suddenly strong.WOW, for once a fight and TONY STEWART IS NOT INVOLVED. THAT'S NEW NEWS.
works for me....

10-10-2008 @ 1:13AM

Claude DeMoss said...

Re; Carpentier
Sour grapes from a loser...Best finish was 14th...Wow!

10-11-2008 @ 2:52AM

Dear claude van damn, in the last 10-15 years quite few driver have moved from INDY RACING to NAZCAR. OOPS it's claude de mess ,sorry, anyway; out of all driver that changed to nascar only 1 driver has had success in the transition and it's TRONY STEWART. If you can remember any other driver please mention him. It's not a cake walk to change driving style and skills from indy or F-1 to nazcar.There are drivers out there which used to be really successfull in the busch series
(very similar racing style to the nazcar cup) and are wortheless driving cup cars. JJ HELEY was 1 of them.
How successfull m truex and clint boyster have been? and some others?. imagine changing from indy/F1 to cup?. wonder how TS did it? well stewart was successfull in midjet cars, sprint cars, usac cars, indy cars. He can drive anything to victory lane. He has won a championship in each one of those series and 2 in nazcar.There are not many stewarts or pretty or dale senior out there. Simple as that.
works for me....

10-12-2008 @ 9:47PM

Jim Hawkins said...

So GEM just completely loses it and fires the fastest most talented driver in their lineup. Pat C. can out-qualify any of the other guys in that GEM line-up. Seems like it's the old excuse - you build a slow car - you blame the driver. Somebody else in Sprint with a lot of savvy will sign Patrick to their team and it will be great entertainment to watch Pat out-qualify the GEM guys every time. We're all behind you in Canada, Pat. You've got max talent, and max class.