Kasey Kahne confirms Toyota, but with a caveat

  Kasey Kahne: Dodge today, Toyota in 2010? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   BROOKLYN, Mich.
   Dodge star Kasey Kahne confirmed Friday that he just did a Budweiser photo shoot with a Toyota Camry race car instead of one of his Dodges.
   But Kahne insisted he didn't really why those sponsor shots were with a Toyota rather the a Dodge, since he is Dodge factory driver, one of the top Dodge factory drivers in fact at the moment, and battling to make the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. Kahne is eighth in the standings with four races left till the playoff cut at Richmond
   "I don't know what the deal is with that," Kahne said of the Toyota. "I did my Budweiser photo shoot and it was with a Toyota, but I don't know why.
   "I'm Dodge, man, and I think I'll be Dodge next year truthfully. But (George) Gillett (team owner with Richard Petty) put the Toyota there, and I took my pictures..and hopefully I won't have to take the pictures again. Or maybe I will."
   Reports have swirled for some two months that Petty and Gillett were negotiating with Toyota for factory sponsorship next season, with Kahne, easily the top driver on the four-man Petty-Gillett team the focus of the reports.
   One report is that Petty-Gillett have had a Toyota engine in shop to test with.
   However Friday's statement by Kahne is the first official confirmation of a specific Toyota-Petty-Gillett link.
   Petty has said his contract with Dodge is up at the end of this season and that he doesn't know exactly how 2010 will shape up. Petty has strong sponsorships with Budweiser, Best Buy and Stanley, but it is unclear if there is enough sponsorship to run a four-team operation again.