Mike Accavitti! The new boss at Dodge?!

  
Mike Accavitti (R) with Kasey Kahne (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   BROOKLYN, Mich.
   Amid all the hoopla over General Motors and its bankruptcy and its future, and its future in NASCAR, and the hot debate in the past few days about the fate of Chrysler and its NASCAR Dodge teams, a huge piece of news seemingly slipped through the cracks:
   Mike Accavitti, the long-time Dodge racing director, has just been promoted to president and CEO of Dodge itself, a jump up of about three huge rungs on the Detroit ladder.
   Accavitti, who hasn't made it to a NASCAR track in some time, has been a strong supporter of NASCAR racing, so his promotion would seem to bode very well for the sport.
   Roger Penske, the sport's premier Dodge car owner, last weekend expressed strong support for Dodge and said he would be fulfilling his company's three-year NASCAR contract with the marquee.
   However Richard Petty, the tour's other Dodge team owner, still seems up in the air about what direction his four-car team may be going. This is Petty's last contract season with Dodge, and he has complained about slow payments from the company, and this week he fired nine crewmen.