Red Bull Racing’s lame-duck driver Kasey Kahne meets problems head-on

This is a 1992 file photo of former NASCAR driver Davey Allison in Victory Lane at the Talladega Superspeedway following a win in the Winston 500. Allison lost his life in a helicopter crash at the track. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, file)
FILE - This Nov. 19, 2010, file photo shows NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne checking speeds during qualifying for the NASCAR Ford 400 auto race, in Homestead, Fla. The owner of energy drink Red Bull plans to leave NASCAR at the end of this season, The Associated Press has learned. Multiple people familiar with the decision say a team official traveled to Michigan Speedway and told industry leaders Sunday, June 19, 2011, of the impending move. (AP Photo/Terry Renna, File)
BROOKLYN, MI - JUNE 19: Kasey Kahne, driver of the #4 Red Bull Toyota, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway on June 19, 2011 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images for NASCAR)
BROOKLYN, MI - JUNE 17: Kasey Kahne, driver of the #4 Red Bull Toyota, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway on June 17, 2011 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, MI - JUNE 17: Kasey Kahne, driver of the #4 Red Bull Toyota, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway on June 17, 2011 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/Getty Images for NASCAR)

By Curtis Pashelka | cpashelka@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: June 23, 2011 at 2:41 p.m. | UPDATED: August 13, 2016 at 2:44 p.m.

Kasey Kahne is hopeful that he and the Red Bull Racing Team will have a strong finish to the second half of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season but realizes the team’s off-track distractions could affect its overall performance.

Red Bull announced this week that it’s set to leave NASCAR at the end of season but that it’s looking for outside investors to keep the two-car team afloat. Kahne is driving for Red Bull, which has more than 150 employees for its two-car team, this season before he joins Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.

“Even (last) weekend, there were rumblings of what ended up happening Monday, and a lot of the pit crew guys and a lot of guys working on the cars are like, ‘Man, what am I going to do? I have a family.’ And as soon as that gets started, it doesn’t make the team any better,” Kahne said Monday at a media luncheon in San Francisco in advance of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. “You start thinking about your life and your family. That makes it difficult.”

Kahne and teammate Brian Vickers are 19th and 24th, respectively, in the Cup standings with zero wins and three top-five finishes between them in the first 15 races. Since Red Bull joined NASCAR late in the 2006 season, it has nine poles and just one win — by Vickers two years ago at Michigan International Speedway.

“I don’t know how much Red Bull will be involved with the sport after this season,” said Kahne, who won at Infineon Raceway for Richard Petty Motorsports in 2009. “But until the end of the season, they’re going to give everything they have and work hard to keep those teams alive.”

This year’s Cup race in Sonoma marks the 20th anniversary of the most controversial finish in the event’s history.

Late in that race, Ricky Rudd spun leader Davey Allison, took over first place and went on to take the checkered flag. But NASCAR officials determined Rudd’s contact with Allison was illegal and awarded the win to Allison.

“(Davey) had the best car at the end, but he was run over,” Bobby Allison, Davey’s father, said Thursday. “NASCAR saw that it definitely was a foul and that allowed (Davey) to get the win.”

Davey Allison, 32, died on July 13, 1993, after the helicopter he was piloting crashed at Talladega Superspeedway.

Bobby Allison and Ned Jarrett, recent inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, will hold an autograph and question-and-answer session with fans at Infineon on Friday at 1 p.m. Allison, Jarrett and Richard Petty also will answer fans’ questions Sunday during pre-event ceremonies.