Richard Petty Motorsports's Kasey Kahne, who has been quite verbal about the disorganization of the team before and throughout the entire merger process, said on Friday at Homestead that he is on the fence on whether or not he will return with the team after next season.

While he has not yet made a decision, he is starting to ponder the possibility, he confirmed on Friday during his media availability session. The driver says that decision won't be made until he can see if the team can become more consistent.  After the up and down season he has experience in 2009, he was leery to commit to anything yet.

“That’s hard to say," Kahne said. "Come January, I can start looking around; I can talk to other people. I would imagine the Gillett’s are going to talk to me at that point. But as of right now, the Gillett’s haven’t talked to me and I’m just kind of doing my job, doing the best that I can through the end of the season. The ups and downs of the team has made it difficult for me to really say, ‘Man, I’m going to be here for 10 more years.’ I really don’t know what’s going to happen. Truthfully, I don’t know what’s going to happen right now.”

With one year left on his contract at RPM, Kahne says next season will play a large role in his final decision on the teams.

“I use to try and stay in the loop and then things don’t happen that they say will," Kahne said. "At this point, I have one year left (on my RPM contract). I want to do the best job for Richard Petty Motorsports in my final year. It’s up to them what happens. They do their thing and I’ll do mine. All I can do is make myself better at driving race cars and communicating with Kenny Francis. If I do that, I’ll be happy next season.”

As Kahne and the rest of the RPM team get set for the final race of the season, there is limited time before February rolls around next season.

While RPM and Yates Racing have announced a letter of intent to merge operations for the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season, no official merger has taken place as of yet. This makes Kahne feel uneasy as to what next season will be like.

"It’s definitely different because things aren’t done," Kahne said. "Because we don’t have a ‘for sure’ yet (agreement between RPM and Yates Racing). I think the season needs to get over with for the management side of things and just figure out exactly what we’re doing; get us pointed in the right direction so that the teams can start working and preparing for 2010. As far as the 9 team, I think we’ve done a pretty good job throughout the year. I don’t feel like I need to be done racing for the year. I’m still pretty excited at where we’re at right now. I think the company needs to be done. (The company) needs be able to focus on getting things straightened out and pointed in the right direction. There are too many unknowns.”

The merger between the two teams won't be an easy one either, as RPM is making the switch to Dodge as well. Therefore, new cars will have to be built in just a few months to get ready to compete for next year.

Kahne will also end the relationship that he has had with Dodge since he came into the series with the manufacturer at what used to be Evernham Motorsports in 2004.  That relationship, which the driver said was a positive one, will be tough for him to leave at the end of the season.

“It’s been really good (his relationship with Dodge)," Kahne said. "Dodge has treated me awesome. Coming into Cup racing in 2004 with Ray (Evernham) and Bill Elliott and Dodge and all the Dodge dealers, there’s been so many great times over the last six years. It’s hard to leave a company that you’ve been strong with and felt comfortable with. There are a lot of people that I’ve made friendships with and it’s tough to leave that. At the same time, we have to go where the company feels that it’s a better spot. That’s what (RPM) is doing and I’m behind RPM because that’s who I need to be behind and I want to race well for them wherever we go.”

The Enumclaw, Wash. native has had a good six-year start to his Sprint Cup Series career.  After recording his first career win in 2005 at Richmond, he has went on to post 11 total wins, 42 top-five and 77 top-ten finishes for an average finish of 18.3.