One year since their last win, Kasey Kahne, RPM team try to perform amid pending moves
Kasey Kahne celebrates his last Sprint Cup victory last year at Atlanta. // Archive, NASCAR Illustrated
Kasey Kahne and his Richard Petty Motorsports team have 12 races left together before they part ways, Kahne moving to Red Bull Racing for one year and the rest of his crew either remaining at RPM or hopefully finding work elsewhere.
It’s been known for months that Kahne would leave – he signed a contract in April to drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2012 – but only in mid-August did he pin down where he would race in 2011. He will be replaced at RPM by Marcos Ambrose, who has signed with RPM for next season.
Kahne isn’t the only person on his No. 9 team that expects to go through a transition during the offseason. With RPM having two – and possibly three – Cup teams in 2011 after having four teams in 2010, some of the crewmen might need to find jobs elsewhere.
“I think a lot of my guys do know what they’re doing [next year],” Kahne said during a teleconference Tuesday. “I’ve heard a lot of them going different places or staying where they’re at. [It’s] kind of up in the air with what everybody is doing.
“I think everybody is getting along good, they’re working good together. They want the right opportunities. … I feel like everybody’s done the best job they could. There’s been some times where I wondered. But they wondered about me, too.”
Kahne said he does not know who will be his crew chief next year at Red Bull but wants to be part of that decision-making process and have input on other competition-related issues, even though he will only be there for one year.
“I’m going to be a big part of all that, kind of seeing how we’re prepared for next season,” Kahne said. “I want to start out at Daytona as good as anybody. You need a great team to do that. I think Red Bull has a lot of good people.
“I’m going to be a big part of getting that all set up and kind of see where it’s at and start working with some of the guys because, I mean, you have to have that if you want to run well. If I go into next season thinking I can’t run well, I might as well take the year off. I want to race, I want to perform and win races.”
As far as winning, the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend marks the one-year anniversary since his last Cup victory. He is a longshot to make the Chase For The Sprint Cup – he is 16th in the standings and 136 points out of 12th with only races at Atlanta and Richmond remaining before the Chase field is set.
“It‘s tough right now because everybody is running so well,” Kahne said. “You kind of earn your points position with many races in. You’re in that position and it’s tough to make up a lot of points.
“[These are] two good tracks for us. I know we can go fast at both of them. If Clint [Bowyer in 12th] has any type of a hiccup, we’ll be right in the middle of it.”
And if he doesn’t make the Chase, Kahne will try to make the best of his final days at RPM.
“If we don’t make the Chase, hopefully we can show up to the race track each week and contend,” Kahne said. “If we do make the Chase, we can do the same thing, contend. I feel we should have a really good shot at winning a race or two regardless if we make it or not.
“I’ve been in this position I think every year pretty much since I’ve been in Cup. I’m never in the Chase when we get to this point of the year. We’re right on the edge. We either miss it or don’t. We have to wait and see.”
