More questions than answers after Hendrick, Kahne talk to media

Car owner Rick Hendrick and Kasey Kahne spent more than 45 minutes talking to the media on Wednesday about Kahne joining Hendrick Motorsports for 2012. But as they talked, there were many questions Hendrick and Kahne coudln't answer but here's some of the basics of what was said:

# Hendrick Motorsports will have Kasey Kahne under contract begininng in 2011 and it is car owner Rick Hendrick's responsibility to find Kahne a ride next season. Where will it be? No one knows.

# Car owner Rick Hendrick said that Kahne will drive a Chevrolet next season regardless of where he's at next season.

# Hendrick said that Mark Martin intends to drive the No. 5 through the end of his contract, which expires after 2011. Hendrick did say if Martin stepped aside for Kahne to get into the No. 5 car next year, "It would have to be Mark Martin saying that he does not want to do what he told me what he wanted to do (drive fulltime through 2011). It's that simple.''

# Kasey Kahne is unsure if crew chief Kenny Francis and/or any of his crew members will follow him after this season.

# As for the idea that JR Motorsports could move up to Cup to allow Kahne to drive in Cup with that team next year, Hendrick said any decision to move from Nationwide to Cup would be that of Dale Jr and Kelley. Hendrick also said such decision could hinge on Danica Patrick, who has a deal to drive for the team in about two dozen Nationwide races this year and next year and her plans beyond 2011.

# Hendrick said he's had no conversation with Budweiser, Kahne's sponsor at Richard Petty Motorsports.

# So, what's next after this for Hendrick?  He said: "I'll probably retire before I need anybody else.''

Here's some of the things Hendrick and Kahne said:

RICK HENDRICK

"When you look at Kasey's record and 11 wins and 16 poles and just turned 30 years old, he's one of the stars of the sport and got a lot of years left ahead of him. Knowing that Mark was wanting to retire (Hendrick later clarified this and said Mark didn't want to run fulltime after 2011) after the 2011 season, we just looked at this as a golden opportunity for our organziation to pick up such a great talent but also a guy that all of our drivers said independently ... that I should try to go after. The way he hits with our organization, I think it's going to be a golden opporrtunity for us and it's an investment in our future because of Kasey's age. We're just real excited about having him become a part of the deal.''

(ON WHERE KAHNE WILL BE DRIVING IN 2011 in CUP, WILL IT BE JR MOTORSPORTS)

"We have not gotten into any particulars yet. Everything is brand new. Kasey had enough faith in our organization to sign a multi-year deal (that goes through 2015) and it's kind of a unique animal. We know what we're going to do come '12, but right now we haven't locked in on what we're going to do in '11 yet and there are just a ton of options. No decision has been made yet.''

(WHEN DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO FOR KASEY FOR 2011?)

"I don't think it's something that we've got any deadline on, but surely we should have something done in the next 90 days for sure.''

(ANY CIRCUMSTANCES MARK MARTIN WON'T RETURN TO THE 5 CAR NEXT YEAR?"

"All I can tell you is what Mark has told me, he wanted to run another year, he wanted to run through '11. I asked him if he could do it beyond '11 and he said no (to a full time season), he didn't think he could do that. That's all that I know right now.''

(WILL ALAN GUSTAFSON STILL BE CREW CHIEF OF 5 WHEN KAHNE COMES OVER)

"You never know again what's going to happen in this sport, but we've got four great crew chiefs here, they do a great job and today we're locked and set. Who knows what the future is going to bringl.''

KASEY KAHNE

"I've never been in this position before. I've never been in a situation where I've been talking to other teams and looking at my future and thinking about that until this year. It's been really eye-opening. To get the relationship with Mr. Hendrick and have the opportunity to go and drive the 5 car in the future is just an awesome opportunity for myself. I'm really excited to have done with now and can just really focus on the rest of my year and my commitment with Budweiser and Richard Petty Motorsports and my team there and just try to win some races.''

(ON BRINGING CREW CHIEF KENNY FRANCIS WITH HIM)

"My relationship with Kenny has been awesome. I get to work with him every week. We have a great communication ... and what the car is doing and what changes we need to make. I feel like we can win a lot of races this year or some races before the season is done. I look forward to working with Kenny for the rest of the year and hopefully we work together in the future. Personally, I don't know. That's one of the things that I don't know what's going to happen.''

(DO YOU WORRY THAT RPM WILL TURN YOUR TEAM INTO ESSENTIALLY A TEST TEAM SINCE YOU'LL BE LEAVING AT THE END OF THE YEAR AND FOCUS ON ITS OTHER CARS)

"No, I don't have that fear. I feel like we have a great team and Richard Petty Motorsports wants to win races and the 9 guys can. I think they're going to be behind us and we're going to work hard together and we're going to finish strong.''

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Also with much speculation on Kasey Kahne driving for Stewart-Haas Racing next year -- that team has an alliance with Hendrick Motorpsorts, SHR spokesman Mike Arning said: "Stewart-Haas Racing is focused on its existing two cars and getting both Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman into the Chase. While a third team cannot be ruled out for 2011, it's also not a priority.''

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