'08 Rear-View Mirror: Kasey Kahne

Warning: Objects in this post may be the only way to successfully live through the NASCAR off-season. For best results, read rearview mirror early and often.

Driver: Kasey Kahne
Team: No. 9 Gillette Evernham Motorsports Dodge
'08 Final Standing: 14th (-2599)
Best Race: Charlotte & Pocono (1st-place)
Worst Race: Michigan & Bristol (40th-place)

Season in a box: 2008 started out decently for what many female NASCAR fans consider the sport's most-eligible bachelor, but by the the time the season ended, Kahne's biggest feather in the cap was being the top-performing Dodge in a dismal season for the manufacturer.

Kahne's season started with three-straight Top-10s at Daytona, California and Las Vegas and a fourth Top-10 at the season's fifth-race at Bristol Motor Speedway. 2008 hit its highest note in May for the driver from Enumclaw, Wash., as he swept the May races -- the Sprint All-Star Challenge and the Coca-Cola 600 -- at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Two weeks later, he again found victory lane at Pocono.

The No. 9 -- or as FOX's Mike Joy likes to say, "Engine No. 9" -- seemed to have found a groove at the perfect time to set Kahne up for a run at the Chase for the Championship. A failure to consistently follow up good finishes, however, derailed that though.

In fact, just once in the rest of the 2008 campaign saw Kahne manage two-straight Top-10 finishes, landing him well outside the Chase for the second-straight season.

Through the crystal windshield: When Kahne was signed on to be the next Budwieser driver in 2008 after Dale Earnhardt Jr., left the sponsor, it certainly added an extra element of pressure for the young driver. Needless to say, missing the Chase two years in-a-row wouldn't sit well with one of NASCAR's most-recognizable sponsors.

However, a benefit to Kahne in 2009 has to be that just about everything around his No. 9 team is staying the same and he has no issues with sponsorship. Look for Kahne to continue his role as top dog at GEM and potentially pick up a few race wins. Missing out on the Chase again shouldn't happen, but with the performance Dodge has seen lately, it's still possible.

Next up: David Ragan