King: Team needs Kahne

Richard Petty’s name is on the stationery, but he handles little of Richard Petty Motorsports’ daily business.

He’s been involved in even less since his wife, Lynda, began treatments for lymphoma.

But standing inside his hauler on Saturday, eating a plain hot dog out of one hand and a raw onion out of the other, he was clear one point of RPM business: the team, principally owned by George Gillet Jr., needs to re-sign free-agent Kasey Kahne.

“Everybody’s got to have a lead dog, and Kasey is our lead dog right now, so we need him,” Petty said.

“You’ve got to have somebody and Kasey has been there long enough to be established where A.J.(Allmendinger)’s not, (Elliott) Sadler ... And (Kahne), he’s done better, so that makes him our lead.”

In winning twice last season, Kahne put Petty in Victory Lane for the first time in a decade. He has more Sprint Cup wins (11) than his teammates combined. Sadler, who came with Kahne in a merger with Gillett Evernham, hasn’t won since 2004 or finished better than 22nd in points since 2006. Neither Allmendinger nor Paul Menard has won in the Sprint Cup series.

Keeping Kahne is within RPM’s control, Petty said.

“If we get the cars to perform, then that’s all he’s looking for. If we get him to win races, he hooks his self,” he said. “All they want to be is competitive, and if we can’t give him a competitive car, he’s going to look somewhere else.

"Same with (points leader Kevin) Harvick. You couldn’t pay Harvick to go somewhere else right now because he’s doing so good where he’s at (at Richard Childress Racing).