There has been a lot of conversation and rumors this past week regarding the status of Kasey Kahne and his contract with Ford Racing and Robert Yates Racing. Greg Specht, Ford’s North American Racing Operations Manager, made a statement regarding Kahne’s contract status with the manufacturer and outlined Ford’s history with Kasey and its future plans for him. GREG SPECHT, MANAGER OF NORTH AMERICAN RACING OPERATIONS, FORD RACING TECHNOLOGY “I’ve been hearing a lot of speculation around Kasey’s status and, as far as Ford Racing is concerned, we have a multi-year contract in place with him and we intend on honoring that. We feel Kasey Kahne is a future star in this sport. That’s why we went ahead and signed him to a multi-year contract. We’re flattered that other teams and manufacturers are interested in him because that means we must know how to evaluate promising young talent. We’ve developed a plan for Kasey, along with Robert Yates Racing, and that includes having him run a full Busch Series schedule next season because we feel he’s primed for a run at the championship. In addition, he would compete in seven Nextel Cup events for RYR with the plan being that he would run a full-time series schedule in 2005. Kasey has told us in the past that Ford has delivered on every promise it has made to him, and we intend on continuing with that by ensuring he remains in competitive equipment with an eye towards becoming a future champion.”(see full quote at Ford Racing Site/PR )(10-10-2003)
