Kasey Kahne Fired; Trouble in King Richard's Court?

By Anne Proffit

Anne Proffit

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1,647 views Oct 24, 2010

Kasey Kahne

Late Wednesday night (20 October) the news hit that Kasey Kahne was being relieved of his duties at Richard Petty Motorsports.  This came after a fractious three-quarter season with this team, which has morphed from Ray Evernham Racing to Gillett-Evernham in various iterations finally to RPM, with the King, Richard Petty, at the helm of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series operation and the Gillett family still part of the program.

Kahne, shown above in his Dodge spokesman days, made no bones about the fact that he was disappointed when RPM moved from Dodge to Ford at the end of the 2009 season; by the time a third of the 2010 campaign was complete, he announced he would be leaving the team at the close of the year, going initially to Red Bull Racing and then to Hendrick Motorsports. 

That departure came a little bit sooner, as the Washington State-born Kahne left Wednesday for Red Bull, where he’ll take over the No. 83 Toyota Camry in place of Aric Amirola, who is headed to RPM and Kahne’s No. 9 Ford Fusion.

By the time Thursday dawned, the rumor machine was in full tilt.  Transporters might just be loading into Martinsville Speedway for the fall race on the tight half-mile oval, but the mouths that roared were saying RPM would be folding, wouldn’t make it to next week’s Talladega plate race and that cars and engines were being withheld by Roush Fenway and Roush Yates Engines, respectively. 

Friday’s spin machine was in full cycle, forcing RPM director of competition Robbie Loomis to speak on behalf of owner Richard Petty, who is with his ailing wife Lynda.  Loomis said it was RPM’s expectation to go forward and complete the balance of the season. 

“There’s been a lot of speculation about a lot of things but there always has been in this sport.  What gives me confidence is that we’ve always had the ability to move forward.  We do our best today.  I was thinking, riding up the road this morning with Dale (Inman, Petty’s cousin and former crew chief) and I said, ‘You can’t look too far out in the future because today is all that we really have.’”

There haven’t been many changes in the Richard Petty Motorsports team this year, aside from the leaving of Kahne and his obvious dissension throughout the season.  It’s been a tough one for the perennial challenger who didn’t make the Chase this season and is currently winless, for the first time since 2007.  There have been communication breakdowns – not a good thing over a 38-race season – and the final straw came in Charlotte where Kahne finished 38th following difficulties with his brakes on a track where braking is normally not an issue.

The 30-year-old driver classified the split as mutual on Friday, acknowledging technical problems that have held him back over the year after contending for the title in 2009.  He had announced plans to drive for Red Bull in 2011 with a move to Hendrick Motorsports to take over the No. 5 Chevy in 2012 already in place. 

Kahne said the break-up was a positive move for both himself and for the Richard Petty Motorsports team. 

“It w a mutual release and for me, I think that’s a good thing for both sides.  They’re happy about it and we’re happy about it.” 

Kahne confirmed that his RPM crew chief will finish the year with the No. 9 Ford before joining him at Red Bull Racing next year.

© 2010 Anne Proffit