Kasey “I Wonder What He’s Like?” Kahne

2006 Ride: No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge
2006 Owner: Ray Evernham
2006 Team Director: Kenny Francis

Stats: 36 Races, 6 Wins, 12 Top 5s, 19 Top 10s, 6 Poles, 9th in points. (I left a comment saying he finished 8th.)

High Point: Kahne dominated the intermediate tracks this year. All of Kahne’s six poles and six wins came on tracks 1.5 miles or longer. Since falling just short of several wins in his rookie year in 2004, Kahne has found Victory Lane with increasing regularity. This year saw the addition of Team Director Kenny Francis and an almost immediate improvement in race and qualifying setups. Kahne’s first two wins, the spring races at Atlanta and Texas came from the pole. Kahne then won Darlington and the Coca-Cola 600, also taking the pole for the Nextel All-Star Challenge in that stretch. Kahne won from the pole again in the first race at Michigan, and rounded out 2006 with a win at California on Labor Day Weekend and a season sweep at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Kahne made the Chase for the Nextel Cup for the first time in his career, finishing eighth in the final standings. (<-- but they got it right, there.)

Low Point: Kahne was brilliant at times this season. But for as many races as he was untouchable, there were races when he touched the wall and turned his finish upside down. Kahne failed to finish five times, and ten times finished 30th or worse. It was this inconsistency that in the end kept the No. 9 team from contending for the Cup. Four of those bottom-thirteen races came in the Chase, keeping Kahne from the Cup.

Summary: Early on, it looked to be Kahne’s kind of year-his worst finish in the first five races was eleventh, and with Kenny Francis on board after twice guiding Jeremy Mayfield to the Chase, all systems seemed to be go. On that front, the team delivered. Although it was the third year in a row that the Evernham camp narrowly slid into the Top 10 at Richmond, Kahne edged Tony Stewart by sixteen points to contend for the title. Kahne got off to a decent start in the Chase with a sixteenth place finish at Loudon, but in the next two races, Kahne finished 38th and 33rd to drop out of contention. He bounced back at Talladega and Lowe’s with a second and a first, but three more Top 10s in the final five were countered by two more finishes of 38th and 33rd, relegating Kahne to eighth in the final standings. (<-- and there, too.)

2007 Outlook: If Kahne and crew can find the consistency that escaped them in 2006 – look out! This team proved to be the team to beat on the intermediate tracks all season long. A little luck and a little more work on short-track setups and Kahne should contend again.

Grade: B.

(If by "won at Darlington" she means "won the Pole" then we're good. But if 21st is the new Victory, then what were we celebrating this year?)

haha, Carrie I was just about to say........what was that Darlington comment about cause he got a Pole but not a win.


I do think they failed to notice how much he's improved on short tracks though and superspeedways.......

they are slowly getting it all together and they will be a force very soon. Cause we know the engine shop is working their butts off so they don't have all those engine problems again in 2007. We know Kasey is going to keep improving, we know Ray and his teams are always going to keep working harder to find the better setups and improve the pit crew. No one outworks Ray Everham's bunch and I have a feeling that is going to show even more in 2007 :)


Is it Feb yet? hehe

I agree Christy they failed to notice some improvements but other than that I think B is a decent grade

no but we can pretend it is lol I can't wait either!


ok so a B i can do...and i agree. I mean they showed so much improvement this past season that they will soon be a force to mess with!

I think they are going to pick up the consistency they didn't have this past season. He's gotten more comfortable with his new team and the charger, he matured all through last season, add in some luck and I think we have the potential(sp?) for a season that will have us all jumping up and down in our living rooms! I'm so ready for 2007!!!

I think the B seems appropriate even if the writer probably hasn't ever watched a race.

I think the B is deserved. I think if they can just be more consistent next year they'll definitely be able to contend for the championship.

I'll go with the B grade. Should have been an A if things would have gone better in the Chase. If the engine dept. can get resolve their parts issue the engines will be fine, if not awesome 'cause we know there's still some more ponies they can find. We know that the team around Kasey is only going to get better. Scott had a season like Kasey had in '04. It's just a matter of time before Scott is up there contending for and even winning races along with Kasey and Elliot. Elliot will get that 19 car back to where it belongs, riding up front. Kasey is the only X factor, but I have more confidence in him that he will stop the "blond" moments and get in the top five for the Chase.

I won't argue with the B because its good. I just wish that people would remember that he has the lowest crash average AND some of those crashes were not his fault. AKA Dover ect.

Yeah, I'm really confident that he knows exactly where he screwed up this year (the Glen, Indy, Atlanta Fall), and what he needs to do to fix it.

And I definitely agree that the team is only going to get stronger. :)

as long as we can pretend Kim.........

are you going to be my pretending buddy? LOL