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RICHMOND, Va. — A contract extension is being put together to keep Kyle Busch with Joe Gibbs Racing for the next few years.

J.D. Gibbs, team president, said Saturday that he's confident the team can sign Busch to an extension before this season ends. Busch's three-year contract expires after next season.

"I think we're probably ready to come out and say something in the near future," Gibbs said before the Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway. "I feel pretty good with Kyle long term.

"We got to spend a lot of time with him and watch him over the past year and a half. He knows there's some areas he needs to work on. There's also some area's he's really gifted and really has impressed us. I don't have any issues. I think we'll be in good shape long term."

STATUS QUO: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will finish the season with interim crew chief Lance McGrew, a team official said.

Teams not in the Chase often change crew chiefs around this time. McGrew has been with Earnhardt since Pocono in June in place of Tony Eury Jr.

"We're not going to change crew chiefs on that car," said Doug Duchardt, vice president of development at Hendrick Motorsports. "I haven't had any discussion with (car owner) Rick (Hendrick) on it but the car has been running well. Junior is happy."

GONE: Car owner Richard Petty says that it's his understanding that Mark McArdle, the team's vice president of competition, is no longer with the team. The Charlotte Observer reported that McArdle had an argument with car owner George Gillett on Friday at the track and later left.

"From what I could pick up, (Friday) was his last day," Petty said of McArdle.

NEW ENGINE DEBUT: Ford plans to debut its new engine next month at Charlotte. It will be used by at least one Ford team not in the Chase.

Whether all the Ford teams will be using the new engine at the start of next season, though, is a question.

"This is more a team decision than a manufacturer's because the budgets are in their hands on how they do it," said Brian Wolfe, Ford Director of North American Motorsports. "We always kid internally that the biggest problem the new engine has is the old engine is so good."

YOUNGER DRIVERS: NASCAR recently changed a rule that will allow drivers as young as 14 years old to compete at local short tracks around the country that have NASCAR sanctioning.

The rule allows drivers to compete as early as 14 in various divisions at a local track except that track's top division.

"So many young people are starting their racing career at an early age and are being forced to go to a non-NASCAR track to get started," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said. "We have development series that we want guys and gals to run, start off in some lesser division at a short track and move up to a feature (division) and from there to the regional tours, move from there to the trucks. This is another way to fill a gap for the normal procedure to be a NASCAR driver from an early age on."

PIT STOPS: Drivers were warned in the pre-race meeting by a NASCAR official "to allow the race to play out without any intervention or influence. We'll be closely watching the action." &ellipses; A brief shower before the race delayed the event's start until after 8 p.m. The race was scheduled to have started at 7:45 p.m.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com