By Ryan - Posted on September 23, 2009
According to NASCAR News, the shakeups at the top of Richard Petty Motors have many wondering just who’s calling the shots, including their top driver Kasey Kahne.
Kasey Kahne, driver of the Number 9 Dodge, would love to focus all of his attention on racing. Instead he is fielding questions about RPM leadership—questions that don’t appear to have any clear answers.
“That’s a tough question, because I really don’t know who it is, either,” said Kahne when asked who was now in charge.
Those comments come in the wake of last week’s removal of Mark McArdle as RPM Vice President, and the announced merger with Yates Racing—a move that will include a switch to Fords, as well as the addition of a pair of high-powered racing executives. Yates Motor partners, Mark Yates and Max Jones, will join the top brass at RPM, adding to an already crowded list of decision makers which includes RPM co-owner George Gillett, managing partner Foster Gillett, executive operations director Robbie Loomis and, of course, Richard Petty.
On the question of leadership, Kahne went on to say, "There are not a lot of answers out there right now. I don't know if it's because we're in the middle of a lot of things, we just don't have a person in that position. I think Robbie Loomis is supposedly going to be that guy, but I don't think that he is yet. Is it Foster? You can't get anything out of Foster. So it's hard to say who that is, and I think that's because we're in a lot of different things right now. But when you're in things, you still need to keep your team and your guys, your company behind you knowing what's going on, and we don't have that. Hopefully, we'll get it soon. The sooner we get that, the better everybody will be."
While the management at RPM may be a bit cloudy, Kahne can at least find solace in the consistency of his No. 9 Team, which begins with Crew Chief Kenny Francis.
"I just feel so confident and so comfortable with Kenny and with the team that he has surrounding him and has surrounding us. If I didn't have that, I'd be a mess. I wouldn't know what to think," he said. "But I do have that, and it's nice to be able to know each day that I can call up Kenny and we can talk about racing and what we're going to do this weekend. ... So I'm sitting pretty good and I'm happy with that. But if I didn't have those guys, I don't know what I would do."
Kahne and his No. 9 Dodge will begin in the 12th position as the Chase continues this Sunday in Dover.
