In 2004, after Elliott opted to reduce his driving duties to part-time, Ray Evernham brought in a seldom-mentioned, soft-spoken kid from Enumclaw, Washington. Kahne was a former USAC graduate, who had limited success in the Busch Series. It seemed as if Evernham hired Kahne because he looked eighteen years of age and could sell cases of Mountain Dew in heaps and masses.
Kahne's hot start in 2004, when he finished runner-up in three of the first seven races, gave him a lot of positive exposure early in his career. But as the season progressed, Kahne was unable to close the deal on several occasions. In 2004, he had a couple of wins slip right through his fingers. The spring Dover race and the fall Charlotte race come to mind.
He was ninth in the Nextel Cup standings heading into the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond, which was the race that decided the ten Chase For The Championship participators. Well, he choked as he watched his veteran teammate Jeremy Mayfield win the race in classic clutch fashion.
Many analysts projected Kahne to be a solid Chase For The Championship contender in 2005, especially after he finally won his first race at Richmond last May. But things fell apart for Kahne and company. His tendency to overdrive the car when it is ill-handling became his Achilles heel.
To shorten the story a bit, Kahne finished the 2005 Nextel Cup season 23rd in the standings, with only five top fives and eight top tens, far below expectations.
That's when I thought to myself, Kahne is on the brink of fading away, kind of like a former Evernham employee, Casey Atwood.
Much to my surprise, Kahne has began to up his stock again in 2006, as he has already won two races and finished in the top ten in five of the first seven races.
And he has pretty much killed the theory that the Dodge Charger is at a severe aerodynamic disadvantage at NASCAR's faster venues.
Kahne has learned to deal with an ill handling car and better communicate with his crew chief in order to improve the handling throughout the race. That is a vital quality that a great racecar driver must possess.
BUT...
Not all is well on the other side of Evernham Motorsports garage. Two time Chase For The Championship contender Jeremy Mayfield has produced miserable results and is on the verge of falling out of the crucial top 35 in the Nextel Cup standings. Even the newly acquired Scott Riggs has shown flashes of winning potential.
What gives? We all know that Mayfield is a gifted driver. But it seems to me that he received the short end of the stick at Evernham Motorsports after all of the personnel changes were made. The team that helped Mayfield sneak into the Chase For The Championship in 2004 and 2005 was shifted over to Kahne and the #9 team. Kahne's former team, which was solid, was transported to the #10 team. And Mayfield was left with the part-time effort that even Bill Elliott struggled with.
The last time Mayfield was given second-tier equipment, he bolted the garage of Penske Racing South, so it wouldn't come as a shock if Mayfield found work elsewhere in 2007. And I wouldn't blame him if he did.
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