For Richard Petty and Kasey Kahne, and sponsor Budweiser, what next?

  
Richard Petty toasts winner Kasey Kahne with a big glass of Sonoma Valley cabernet (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   SONOMA, Calif.
   Curious, curious, curious.
   Kasey Kahne, long a mystery man in NASCAR, so quiet most of the time, now a 10-time tour winner but still somewhat of an unknown figure.
   Richard Petty, of late also a mystery man, since moving Petty Enterprises from Level Cross, N.C., down to Charlotte…and then last winter having to merge – or something – with George Gillett's own struggling racing empire.
   And Gillett himself, again missing the Sunday action, just a day or so after having to sell the Montreal Canadiens out of his huge sports portfolio.
   Not to mention Ray Evernham, the legendary crew chief turned team owner who brought Dodge back into this sport a few years ago, as the lead Dodge team owner….only to suddenly bail out of the sport entirely last summer, selling to Gillett, then all but vanishing from the NASCAR scene.
   You couldn't make this stuff up.
   Mix all that together, and throw in red-hot Tony Stewart, one of the sport's best road racers….and Kahne not only beats Stewart to win Sunday's Sonoma 350 but beats Stewart off the line four times in those dreaded new double-file restarts down the stretch?
   You couldn't make this stuff up.
   But what does Kahne's Sunday win for Petty really mean? Short-term, and big picture?
   Kenny Francis, the level-headed, cool crew chief for Kahne, and at that spot on the pit box for several years now, concedes it's been difficult this season to keep all the rumors and speculation and questions about the entire Petty-Gillett-Dodge operation from wearing on him and the team.
   And now, just hours before Sunday's race, speculation increased that Petty and Kahne could be in Toyotas by the time the Sprint Cup tour reaches Chicago in three weeks.
   Petty himself has complained in recent weeks about Dodge's support. He's only gotten enough parts for one of the new Dodge R6 engines. And it's not clear just how many checks have made it through the mail lately to help pay bills.
   On top of that Kahne's sponsor, Anheuser-Busch's Bud brand, has just been sold to a foreign company InBev, that has a reputation for cutting and cutting and cutting. And that Bud sponsorship has been a major question – will InBev keep Bud red in this sport, and on Kahne's car?
   So Kahne and Petty and the guys have been almost literally fighting for their lives lately.
   However they've clearly risen to the occasion.
   But what comes next?