RPM future still in doubt

The victory last weekend by Kasey Kahne on the road course at Sonoma, Calif., was good for morale at Richard Petty Motorsports, but only time will tell if it helps the team's bottom line.

"As of today, nobody knows what they're going to do next year," Petty said Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, site of today's Lenox Industrial Tools 301. "Financially, nobody has knocked on our doors and said, 'We are going to sponsor your car.' But when you do call them, they know who you are, and so that really helps."

The trip to victory lane was the first since Petty Enterprises joined forces with Gillett Evernham Motorsports last winter and Petty's first in 10 years. It came amid eroding sponsorship and the uncertainty of Dodge's future in NASCAR. Majority owner George Gillett is selling his interest in the NHL's Montreal Canadiens and hasn't said whether he plans to use some of the proceeds of that sale to prop up his NASCAR team or if he is considering selling it as well.

Petty remains ever the optimist.

"All of the people that really come through this deal are going to come out the other end a lot stronger, and a lot of people are going to go by the wayside," he said. "We're going to come out of it and we're going to come out of it in pretty good shape."