TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, is close to announcing contract extensions for crew chiefs Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson.

But don't ask Hendrick just yet what his 2011 plans are for Kasey Kahne, the driver he signed to a long-term contract that won't kick in until the 2012 season. Well, you can ask -- and reporters did prior to the Aaron's 499 on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. But Hendrick insisted he doesn't yet have an answer.

He said he has been tied up lately working with his car dealership group, and that this week he will be busy dealing with sponsorship issues regarding his four race teams. Then perhaps he will get around to figuring out how to help Kahne find a decent ride in a Chevrolet for the 2011 season.

Kahne will replace Mark Martin in the No. 5 Chevy for Hendrick in 2012.

"It's just too early right now," Hendrick said. "It's like I said earlier: I talked to [Kahne] a year ago; he's a young talent. Mark has told me he can't drive beyond 2011. And so it's one of those deals where he wanted to be there and I wanted him bad enough that we just said, hey, we'll work it out. That one year, we'll figure it out; we don't have to have that done today. We're looking farther down the road."

Hendrick admitted he was intrigued by the fact that Martin recently mentioned he might ultimately be interested in owning his own race team. Hendrick added that he would be willing to assist Martin in that endeavor.

"When you heard that was the first time I had heard that," Hendrick said. "I didn't even know he had thought about that. I would be happy to help him. I think our sport needs more guys like that who want to own their own teams. But it's really hard to plan when you're going to run a limited schedule.

"The sponsors don't know how to [react to it]. We've done it; we can do it. But it's just hard."

Hendrick said he wanted to make it clear that in no way was his signing of Kahne an indication that he believes the 51-year-old Martin's skills as a driver have diminished in any way.

"I think Mark is phenomenal. I don't think he's lost anything," Hendrick said. "If anything, I think he's better than I remember him being.

"It's just what these guys mentally want to do. I think he's had to have had a ton of options [for beyond 2011], because I've had people calling me. And I'm like, 'You gotta call him.' Because I can't run him in a limited deal and have four teams."

Meanwhile, two of the crew chiefs of those four teams -- Knaus with the No. 48 car driven by four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson and Gustafson with the No. 5 currenty being driven by Martin -- are pretty much locked up for the future.

Asked specifically about Knaus, Hendrick replied: "We absolutely should be able to announce something here in 10 days or so. We're weren't that concerned about it, but that's going to happen here real soon."

And as for Gustafson?

"Same thing. ... We have a verbal agreement but haven't gotten anything signed," Hendrick said. "I didn't feel like there was really any need to [make an announcement]. As long as we all understand where we're headed, to me, I don't think we need a contract."

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• Martin unsure of future after Hendrick contract ends