In the 80s people rocked out to one of The Cars popular songs Bye Bye Love. Well at the end of this season driver Kasey Kahne will be saying Bye Bye to Richard Petty Motorsports. It is still unclear where Kahne will be going for 2011.
For 2012 however, Kahne will be joining Hendrick Motorsports, driving the number 5 car, replacing Mark Martin. The other 39 drivers will be up against “the fantastic four”, that being Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and now Kasey Kahne, and it can be expected for HMS to dominate the series even more and that’s no fiction.
It took hardly any time at all for Kahne to decide that Richard Petty Motorsports just isn’t the place for him (only seven races in to be exact with 80 percent of the season remaining).
It’s going to be tough on RPM due to the fact that Kahne is their star driver with the most success since the merging of Gillett Evernham Racing and Richard Petty Enterprises in 2009.
This is a smart move for Kahne considering he has already fallen to 26th in the points standings and has had only 2 top ten finishes in the first 7 races so far.
It is understandable that 29 races still remain for Kahne to be successful at RPM; but the likelihood of that is very small considering the 4 drivers at RPM have not achieved a whole lot during the prior and present season. Only two wins have come from RPM since the merge, both of the from Kasey Kahne.
Kahne without a doubt has the talent, we have seen it in previous seasons especially during 2006 where he finished 8th in the points standings with 6 wins, a career best.
It just doesn’t seem like RPM has the funding necessary to provide each team with the equipment to keep them competitive and up in front week in and week out. According to fox sports, RPM is in default on a 90 million dollar loan, man that is not a good sign.
With that said, Kahne should be much more successful with HMS in the years to come. He will be supplied with the horsepower and equipment from the best of the best in the sport right now.
He will also be working with an organization that has experience, professionalism on and off the track, and not to mention a stable financial situation.
Kahne will also be in good company having the four-time consecutive champion, the driver ranked 7th on the all-time win list, and the sports most popular driver as teammates. I think it’s safe to say that Kahne will be hanging out with the right crowd.
The 2012 season will definitely be interesting, to say the least, with Kasey Kahne making the move to HMS.
Written by Gas 'N Go, Thursday April 15 2010
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