Rick Hendrick says there’s nothing new regarding the Mark Martin/Kasey Kahne situation.
Although it was announced in April that Kahne would drive the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, the release clearly stated that the transition would be made in 2012. Yet ongoing chatter in the garage indicates a shift at the end of this year.
“We don’t have anything to announce yet,” Hendrick said. “I just haven’t made any decisions yet. We’ve been close a couple of times, but nothing that we wanted to do. We’ve still got a lot, there’s still a lot of options and we’re just trying to wait to see what works out the best.
“We have a deal with Mark and we’re going to honor that and we want to honor that. Kasey’s known that”
Hendrick did not deny that the deal he intends to honor with Martin could include an option outside of the No. 5 ride.
“I can’t tell you that because I don’t know ... but right now it’s his (Martin) seat and it’s his call.
“I’ve told you guys before that you just never know what could happen. I’m just saying that right now that’s his (Martin's) seat and it’s his ride and we haven’t changed our plans or our ideas in any way since the announcement started.”
As far as Ray Evernham’s recent comments that Martin would step aside graciously to make room for Kahne, Hendrick insisted, “I don’t need anybody to do any dirty work for me. If I have anything I want done, I’ll go to the people, I won’t have somebody else doing it or speaking for me. Mark has made a heck of a contribution to our organization ... I wish Mark could drive four or five more years.”
Hendrick admits that orchestrating the Kahne deal is “more complicated” than it might seem. Hendrick says he is not actively searching for sponsors for Kahne, but there has been interest in the driver. He says sponsors are “conflicted” and some Hendrick sponsors “are sensitive” to the situation. “Some of the people that want to be involved can’t be involved in over a year,” Hendrick said.
Hendrick himself seemed sensitive to the controversy — which has heated up over the last few days with both Martin and Kahne publicly displaying frustration over the confusion. Kahne has not made his plans known for next season, which has fueled the speculation.
Hendrick personally took responsibility for the holdup and was careful when addressing whether Kahne would drive a Chevy in 2011.
“Look, if I tell you what I will do and what I won’t do and I end up doing something different because I never thought about it, then you think I lied to you so I’m keeping all options open with whether it’s a Chevrolet or something else,” Hendrick said. “I’m trying to make everybody happy — all our sponsors, NASCAR, the whole deal. If it wasn’t for NASCAR it would be real easy for me. I would have five teams next year and I wouldn’t be going through all this.
“It’s just a very complicated deal. Is it more complicated than I anticipated? Yeah, but at the same time I do have options and I want to make it the best option for everyone involved.”
