Kasey Kahne Okay After Outlaws Flip

((HT: CentralPARacer))

Head to the 1:15 mark...


Now, the details...

He is okay after his sprint car somersaulted over a retaining wall in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania...

"Got wiped out in my heat race tonight," Kahne wrote on Twitter. "Haven't flipped like that in a long time!"

Kahne, who owns a sprint car racing team, was running in the second heat race of the night, after turning in the seventh-fastest time in qualifying.

Next up for Kahne is the Brickyard...

Red Bull Leaving NASCAR At End Of Year

So much for that idea...

This makes sense on a couple of fronts...

1) The energy drink market has become so fractured that Red Bull has lost market share in the US- regardless of the amount of competition...

2) The team has struggled since it started in 2007- even as the trendsetter that brought in Toyota as a race car full-time. Brian Vickers failed to qualify for 13 of 36 races in '07. He finished 38th in the final Sprint Cup standings. AJ Allmendinger missed 19 races that year and was 43rd in the final points.

Jay Frye was brought on the next season as GM, and the team improved on the track. But Allmendinger was let go late in 2008 for Scott Speed...

Speed was let go at the end of last year and is currently suing Red Bull, according to ESPN's Marty Smith.

Here's Scott's take...
((HT: SpeedChannel/NASCAR/NASCARImages/youtube))


Vickers won a race in 2009, but was sidelined most of last year with blood clots.
((HT: XERB1090/ESPN on ABC/NASCAR))


The team has Kasey Kahne on loan from Hendrick Motorsports to go with Vickers this year, but Kahne has five top-10 finishes and is 19th in points and Vickers has five top-10 finishes and is 24th in points.

So, then there's stability...

3) NASCAR has been losing audience in the energy drink target demo: 18-34...

Red Bull's success in Formula One goes without saying as Sebastian Vettel has ruled the circuit this year...
((HT: FOM/youtube))


So, what would you do...???
Even with the guys looking for a major sponsor next year, they're still bailing...

Martin Truex, Junior's Hard Lick

((HT: NASCAR on FOX/nascar.com/youtube))

You know it's a bad day when...

You hit the SAFR barrier so hard, it has to be repaired...
Truex and Kasey Kahne collected themselves and the Martinsville racing stripes galore...


Looks like something just blew on the 56 and took the 4 with it...

DEVELOPING: Kahne Released From RPM

Like, now...

Kasey Kahne was set to join Red Bull Racing next season as a placeholder/seat warmer until Mark Martin decides to retire from his chair at Hendrick. At that time, Kahne would jump into the number 5 seat...

But Kahne's jump to Red Bull can start immediately if not sooner...

Kahne thought he had a good car at Charlotte last week, but his brakes failed- causing Kasey to blow up and team members to jam at him behind his back...

"It's not like you have half-brakes, like you can pump them," Kahne said at the time. "Your foot goes to the floor. It bottoms out. It's a joke."

"I'm not going to say names, but I was told that I need to start doing my part," Kahne said of an unnamed RPM employee. "I can't control the issues I've had this year. I don't know how many parts I've broke. If I really thought about it, I could come up with all kinds of stuff.

"You can't control that as a driver. I'm doing my part. I just need the car. I work as hard as anybody out there."

Remember, RPM had financial problems and was purchased by George Gillett. They had more financial problems and have been a poor association with Richard Petty.

As a flashback, here's the end of Kahne for RPM...
((HT: NASCAR Images/ABC/Youtube))

Richard Petty, Yates Merging For 2010 Season

((HT: AJC))

Under the agreement announced Thursday, Yates driver Paul Menard will join RPM drivers Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and A.J. Allmendinger next year.

RPM was formed in January when Petty Holdings merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

The team has met with mixed success, though Kahne is in good position to make the 12-driver chase for the championship after picking up his second victory of the season last week in Atlanta. Kahne is sixth in points heading into Saturday's race at Richmond, the final race before the chase begins.

"This is a pretty big deal for us," Petty said. "We're thrilled to partner with Ford. We've talked with a lot of folks, but in the end it came down tothe success the Gilletts and I think we can achieve with Ford Racing."

The switch from Dodge to Ford should ease some of the financial pressure felt by RPM since Chrysler's Chapter 11 filing. RPM laid off employees and cut salaries after Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection.

"If you are going to compete with the other teams in this sport, you need a lot of support," said RPM managing partner Foster Gillett. "We bring a lot to this relationship as well. We've won twice this season and the power of Richard Petty is hard to beat, plus we have the support of some of the biggest names in corporate in America."

The merger leaves RPM driver Reed Sorenson and former NASCAR champion Bobby Labonte —who has been driving for Yates — looking for work while bringing Kahne full circle with Ford.

Kahne was being groomed by for big things by Ford in 2003 when he suddenly left the fold and signed with Ray Evernham's Dodge team, a move that gave Kahne a full-time ride at the Cup level. Ford sued for breach of contract, but the case was eventually thrown out of court.

Brian Wolfe, director of Ford North America Motorsports, called RPM's decision to switch manufacturers "gratifying."

"We will work with them closely on the technical front to help them become even more competitive than they are," he said. "What's also really good to me is the chance to have someone with the class and the legacy of Richard Petty involved with Ford."

Petty, winner of a record 200 NASCAR races, said some of the details are still being worked on. But he added there is little doubt the merger will help RPM make inroads on NASCAR super teams like Hendrick Motorsports.

"I've won races with Ford and plan to again," he said.

Just not with Sorenson, who is 28th in points this year with just one Top 10 finish.

Labonte is 30th while driving for Yates as part of a joint venture with Hall of Fame Racing, but was pulled from last week's race at Atlanta in favor of rookie Erik Darnell. Labonte ended up driving the No. 71 car for TRG Motorsports and finished 18th while Darnell was 30th.

Yates Racing co-owner Max Jones said it will still field two cars for the remainder of the 2009 season. Menard, who is 32nd in points, will drive one car while Darnell and Labonte will split time in the other.

All the story above does is give us a chance to show you the Sonoma race from earlier in the year where Kahne held off Tony Stewart
((HT: NASCAR Media/TNT))