This pretty boy can flat-out drive
Paul Oberjuerge, Staff Writer

FONTANA - Kasey Kahne may be a NASCAR original.

A pretty boy who can flat-out drive.

Stock car racing's elite circuit, currently known as the Nextel Cup, has generated scads of manly men in its time. Tony Stewart. Dale Earnhardt (Sr. or Jr.). Mark Martin. Cale Yarborough.

Well, just about everybody who climbed behind the wheel in the first three or four decades of NASCAR history.

They were Marlboro Men, leathery and laconic. Men who took their cigarettes without filters and their cockpits without roll cages.

Guys who looked as if they wouldn't mind punching horses - or anyone who got in their way on the track.

"Rugged," was a good way to describe that lineup. They'd spun into too many walls to aspire to careers in acting, never mind modeling.

Then, in recent years, a handful of nerds somehow slipped into the Nextel Cup mix. Kyle and Kurt Busch. Denny Hamlin. Matt Kenseth, even. They weren't shrinking violets, no. Cautious and polite are fatal on the track. But they also didn't look like the sort of alpha males men would avoid in a bar fight or women would ogle in a night club.

Then, along came Kasey Kahne.

He is tall and lean, with the blond curls you associate with statues of Greek gods. Or Michelangelo's David. Women seem to hyperventilate while talking about his blue eyes.

And his appeal seems both broad and deep. Maybe it's that boyish thing he's got going on, even at age 26. Something not even the young Jeff Gordon had in the way Kahne does.

Teens see Kahne as practically one of their own, NASCAR's prom king. Thirtysomethings are ready to take him out for a drink. At the least. Mature women seem keen to admire him ... and then fix him up with their daughters.

Madison Avenue has noticed.

Allstate Insurance has a series of Kahne commercials with a running theme; he is such a dreamboat that the sight of him distracts soccer moms to the point that they crash their SUV - from sheer excitement.

One woman fantasizes about him painting her toenails. Another daydreams of helping him change a tire.

Not exactly the image Richard Petty generated. Or that The Intimidator left behind.

This is something new in NASCAR. Adonis behind the wheel. The sort of thing Jeff Gordon fought, a decade ago, but that Kahne now embraces.

It all might be disastrous to the kid's career ... if he didn't go out on the track and kick butt every few weeks.

Kahne overcame 42 competitors, a crippling mid-race penalty and triple-digit temperatures to win the Sony HD 500 at the California Speedway

Advertisement

on Sunday.

It was his fifth victory of the 2006 season, or one more than any of the crusty old guys has.

Kasey Kahne (pronounced CANE) is much more than a pretty face; he is a devil of a competitor.

He entered Sunday's race in dire straits. He stood 11th in the season points standings, and only the top 10 qualify for The Chase - the 10-race competition over the final weeks of the Nextel Cup season. The 10 races that determine the season champion.

Kahne needed a high finish - like, oh, first place - to give himself a realistic shot at moving into the top 10 at Richmond next week.

He started ninth on the Fontana grid, then charged to the front.

And stayed there.

By midrace he looked like the guy who would win if he didn't break or crash, as he peeled off lap after lap at the front.

Then came what might have been a disaster. He was caught speeding on pit road, and sent to the end of the line of every car on the lead lap. He went from first to 27th on Lap 157.

In other words, he had a lot of Marlboro Men to pass to get where he had to go.

But that's when NASCAR's Fabio showed his grit. He started picking off guys in front of him. By Lap 168 he was 15th. By 171 he was 12th.

Then came some help from his Dodge Dealers/UAW crew. He pitted on a yellow, took on only two tires while nearly everyone else got four, and picked up 10 slots. When he got back on the track, he was second.

He stayed up front till the end, his only scare coming when backmarker Reed Sorenson skipped the last fuel stop and tried to make it to the checkered flag; he fell about four miles short.

And there came Kasey Kahne, flashing across the finish line first, one big smile and limpid pools for eyes ... a motors nation ready to swoon at his feet and a batch of tough guys grudgingly conceding the kid can drive.

What's next for Kasey Kahne?

A race at Richmond. Perhaps a berth in The Chase. A championship or three. And maybe some sort of breakthrough into "Entertainment Tonight" pop culture no NASCAR driver really has ever before made.

Kasey Kahne already is a Nextel Cup celebrity; he could be a Hollywood celebrity before this is all over. Now that would be NASCAR news.

I can't say I'm really that irritated... it is the truth. That's why he does have such a big fan base... but at the same time, the article talks about how he's NOT just a pretty face and he can drive his bum off.

I'm really not that irritated either. Like Jen said, those reasons are why he has as many fans as he does... and it's not all about the looks, it's about how he goes out there and kicks butt.

I agree with Jen and Court, the guy speaks the truth. And so what if he's pretty, it's pulling in sponsors and that's a really important thing in this sport. He seems fine with working it to his advantage, which he should. He has the talent to back it all up so why not.

That article doesn't bother me either. At least it was made very clear that HE CAN DRIVE!!!!!!! As long as that fact is recognized I don't mind his looks being mentioned.

I didn't know he was blond.

that article was okay, at least they did say he was a competitor. oh, and the Allstate commercials, I mute those because they annoy me :)

I said in another post the thing that amused me about that article was that the writer described Kasey as tall. I keep reading in articles lately that he's tall and don't know that even he would say that was quite accurate. :)

I think they got Kale mixed up with Kasey for the blonde and tall bit

Interesting read.

Part of that article makes me want to hurl just cause of the words they use, not that its about Kasey

but it is the truth.......at least the article did point out that he CAN DRIVE! Though I guess it could have been written without all the "hollywood looks" stuff thrown in if they wanted too

its not my favorite of win articles, but at least they are saying that "hey the kid may have the people swooning at his feet cause of his looks but they may also love him cause he can drive........which is def why I love him!

hell the guy is just givin him more press writing about him. so go kasey :) lol