Maturity making difference for NASCAR youngster Kasey Kahne

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This article was published 21/06/2006 (7306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

(AP) – A year ago, Kasey Kahne was mired in a sophomore slump and the conventional wisdom was that, besides struggling to figure out the new Dodge Charger, the kid simply was too impatient.

Kahne, who had great success on the way to becoming the top rookie during the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup season, was getting more and more frustrated as 2005 went on, pushing too hard with cars that weren’t as good as he was and making mistakes he hadn’t made the year before.

Team owner Ray Evernham knew something needed to be done to get Kahne back on track.

A key move was putting Kenny Francis in charge of Kahne’s No. 9 Dodge Charger as team director, moving him and most of his crew over from Jeremy Mayfield’s No. 19, which made the Chase for the championship and finished ninth in the points.

The personnel change certainly has worked for Kahne.

Heading into Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 on the road course in Sonoma, Calif., Kahne leads the Cup series with four victories – including last Sunday at Michigan – and is third in the standings, trailing leader Jimmie Johnson by 240 points and runner-up Matt Kenseth by 170.

A year ago, coming off an 18th-place finish at Michigan, Kahne was 20th, 573 behind leader Johnson and 203 away from the 10th-place cutoff for the Chase. The struggles continued and he finished the season 23rd overall and more than a little disheartened.

Evernham said he isn’t surprised by Kahne’s resurgence.

“He’s definitely grown as a race driver,” the owner said. “He understands what he needs to do.”

Evernham said that includes letting other cars get past early in races, sometimes dropping back a few positions and just running as hard as he needs to, instead of all-out all the time.

“He understands now that the end of the race is what counts and not to abuse the car and all you’ve got to do is keep it in position,” Evernham said. “He’s got confidence now in Kenny Francis and in the pit crew that they’re going to keep him up front and make the right decisions to adjust the car. And I think he’s just a more confident person because he knows that he doesn’t have to be the fastest car all of the race. He just needs to be the fastest at the end.”

The Michigan weekend was a good example of Kahne’s newfound attitude.

He won the pole Friday and obviously had one of the fastest cars in practice Saturday before making a mistake and slapping the wall, crushing the right side of his car.

The team scrambled to get the car back together, retaining Kahne’s starting position and the Charger’s speed.

Early in the race, Kahne let Jeff Gordon set the pace, biding his time. Then he picked up some loose paper on his radiator and the engine began overheating.

That forced Kahne to make a green-flag pit stop, falling to 38th, a lap off the pace set by the leaders.

A quick caution flag helped the 26-year-old get back on the lead lap and then he patiently knifed through traffic, getting back into contention and out front just in time to win the race shortened by rain from 400 miles to 258.

“You do need patience on these type of racetracks,” Kahne said, shrugging at the compliment from his team owner. “But, at the same time, you need to charge up there.

“We knew we had a great car and we knew the rain was coming. We did all we could to pass cars. I think I was four-wide at one time and three-wide another time. My spotter said that wasn’t being patient, but I was like, ‘Well, it was open.’ I really couldn’t tell it was four-wide.”

He gave plenty of credit for the latest victory to Francis and his new crew.

“We’re really confident,” he said. “You can see that by the pit stops. I think I probably passed 12 to 15 cars on pit road. If we didn’t do that, we wouldn’t have won the race. This is a great team.”

Kahne said everything is going just as he had hoped – and was planning – this year.

“At the start of the year, I made up my goals for the team and what I was going to do better this year,” he explained. “That was bring cars home in one piece and get in the Chase.

“Communication was another spot I needed to work on. So far, I’ve stepped up. I’ve communicated better with Kenny. Whether the car was 21st at Darlington or first at Texas, we brought it home in one piece without scratches, and that’s less work for the guys fixing things I hurt and more time to prepare and make things at Evernham Motorsports better.”