Kasey Kahne and Rick Hendrick shocked NASCAR nation on Tuesday, when writer Marty Smith, broke the news that Kasey Kahne had in fact signed with Hendrick Motorsports. His contract with Richard Petty Motorsports, is up at the end of the 2010 Sprint Cup Season, so it only makes sense that he starts looking at all viable options, and that is just what he did, but hey can you blame him?
Richard Petty Motorsports, has lost their most profitable driver if you ask me. Not only does Kasey Kahne, have the talent needed to be a successful driver , but he also has the looks, and he has the ability to make any company money. So what does that mean for Richard Petty Motorsports? Well one of two things could happen, Richard Petty could reduce to a one car operation, but then what two drivers would they get rid of? If I had to pick I would chose either Paul Menard, or Elliott Sadler, because let’s be real, Aj Allmendinger, is really starting to come into his own.
Richard Petty Motorsports, has invested so much time, in to making their equipment better, so that they could keep their star. However, I believe that they should have figured that it was inevitable that Kasey was going to leaving there after this season, Hendrick Motorsports or not. Maybe they should have invested more time into developing the other three drivers that they have so that they wouldn’t be in this situation, I’ll be honest the future of RPM isn’t looking as bright as it once was. I’m not saying that Kasey’s leaving the team, is the cause of it, but it plays a major role, and them defaulting on a 90 million dollar loan isn’t helping.
Kasey needs to do what is best for his future, and he needs to do what is best for him now, and even though I’ll hate to see him leave that number 9, it’s just one of those things, that if its going to happen its going to happen, and your not going to do anything about it. Now that Kasey has this contract with Rick Hendrick, I think you’re going to see him race his ass off, and he’s going make it in the chase, and he’s going to kick ass doing it. He’s got so much talent, and he’s better then any car that RPM could put under him.
What’s going to happen if Aj Allmendinger decides that RPM isn’t the place for him either and he leaves to go to another team? That will leave Sadler, and Menard, unless by some miracle Kevin Harvick decides that he wants to give RPM a try. Which let’s look at this, Kevin Harvick will probably leave Richard Childress Racing unless they also get their act together and get cars that are able to compete for championships, so why would he go to RPM, when that’s the reason that Kasey’s leaving? I don’t look for that to happen at all. Then again, who thought that Kasey would sign a new contract for a different team this early in the year? Not me that’s for sure, but hey can you blame him?
According to www.jayski.com, all the Richard Petty Motorsports drivers have contracts that are up at the end of this season, with Kahne already out the door what other choices do they have? I think you’ll find them focusing more on Aj in the “fame 43” than anyone else. Don’t get me wrong Aj is a good driver, but what about what’s good for Aj?
In the garage area, other teams know how unstable Richard Petty Motorsports really is, don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of all the RPM teams. I think they have some talented drivers, that just need to be more “developed”, maybe its not the drivers at all, maybe it is the cars. Richard Petty Motorsports, has made positive changes in, starting to set them in the right direction to get out there and win championships, but I just don’t think that they are there yet, and they won’t be there for a while.
The biggest question in my mind is did they make the right decision to switch from Dodge to Ford? I’m not so sure, because if you take a look at the recent record for Ford, its not so good. I think its an improvement, but not that big of a deal. Just because you’ve switched manufacturers, doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. It takes a lot of time, dedication and determination to win races and championships.
And that’s just want Rick Hendrick, looks for in his drivers, and that my friend is what makes Hendrick Motorsports the organization they are today. Hard work, determination and dedication.
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