Kasey Kahne Deserves More

Fans have just voted Kasey Kahne's win in last year's Sprint All-Star Race the greatest moment in Lowe's Motor Speedway's storied history. After failing to qualify for the race, Kahne lined up on the starting grid thanks to the fans' popular vote, then promptly went out and snapped a 19-month winless streak.

Kahne's amazing effort that night, followed by a win a week later in the Coca-Cola 600, marked one of the best weeks of his Sprint Cup Series career.

The highlight reel has been considerably shorter for him since.

As the All-Star race win demonstrates, Kahne, 29, is incredibly popular and massively talented. Unfortunately he's driving for a newly merged, newly named, old-school team, Richard Petty Motorsports, that appears to be going nowhere fast.

Literally.

After a promising start, Kahne has slowly and painfully slipped out of Top 12 Chase contention. He's had only two top-10 finishes through 11 races -- although he did lead laps at Darlington last Saturday and ranks 17th in the championship. He hasn't won since last June and his fellow RPM drivers are faring even worse.

This is not what Kahne signed up for when he was tabbed by then team owner Ray Evernham to succeed champion Bill Elliott behind the wheel of the No. 9 Dodge in 2004. Kahne, a USAC star, was widely considered one of the best young talents NASCAR had lured away from open-wheel.

And Evernham, a three-time Cup champion crew chief for Jeff Gordon, was Dodge's NASCAR Alpha Dog, its flagship operation. The potential of the highly motivated combination of Evernham, Kahne and Dodge made for one of the freshest success stories in Cup racing.

Kahne delivered the 2004 Rookie of the Year title, won four pole positions and finished a respectful 13th in points.



Kahne scored his maiden Cup win in 2005 and answered with a series high six wins the next season and a career-best eighth place ranking in the championship.

By then, the handsome, personable Kahne had also made a name for himself as one of NASCAR's most marketable drivers. He was chosen as one of People Magazine's "Hottest" Bachelors. He starred in popular and entertaining television commercials and his souvenirs were selling off shelves.

Men loved the way he raced. Women loved the way he raced. And everything else about him.

Kahne was one of NASCAR's rock stars. And that is fine. But what he has always been more interested in winning races and that seems to be a losing proposition with his current situation.

Today's Richard Petty Motorsports hardly resembles the original Evernham Motorsports -- most obviously because Evernham has sold his majority interest to Canadian George Gillett and remains with the team only as a "consultant."

In the off season, Gillett-Evernham merged with Petty Enterprises, which, frankly hasn't fielded a championship contender since Richard Petty drove for the team in the 1970s.

Far from being a mega-merger, the result is a mega-mediocre four-car team. And it shouldn't be that way. The lineup, including veteran Elliott Sadler, journeyman Reed Sorenson and newcomer A.J. Allmendinger is capable of winning races.

And it's not Dodge, which unveiled an improved engine this year that RPM inexplicably STILL isn't using.

Kurt Busch, who drives a Dodge for Penske Racing, has won a race and led the championship this season under the new power.

How much difference could the new engine package make? Three words: Sam Hornish Junior.

It makes you wonder if racing is merely a business proposition to RPM owners. It is certainly more than that for Kahne. It's about winning, which is something Kahne has done since he was teenager racing sprint cars in the Northwest.

And why should he lower the expectations?

"What gets to me,'' Kahne said, "is when you start getting happy running 12th or 14th. That's not where I want to be. At times right now, I leave the track after I finish 13th and I'm a little upset but that's better than it could have been. I don't really like that attitude but that's kind of what it's been the last couple of years.

"I like to win, I know that much. I want to have the opportunity to win each week.''

Give Kahne credit. He has taken the high road and remained loyal to RPM, but even he has a certain threshold of what he can tolerate.

In remarks to reporters last week at Darlington, S.C., Kahne indicated he was hopeful the team would turn things around but was clearly frustrated.

"They're starting to listen, but my concerns have been the same for a while,'' Kahne told The Charlotte Observer. "Sometimes, early in the year and the end of last year, I'd tell them my concerns and they'd look at you. It would go in one ear and out the other and they'd go about their day.

"In the last three weeks they have really started to think about it and said, 'Our cars are really heavy and our engines don't run' and they're starting to work on it.

"It's not like all this just happened.''

With the right equipment and support there is absolutely no reason why Kahne shouldn't be in the Chase for the Championship this year and every year.

If RPM can't give him the commitment to make that happen, the team should let Kahne out of the final year of his contract, 2010, so he can drive for a team that is as interested in winning as he is.

Imagine what it must be like for Kahne to watch those (who shall remain nameless) in superior equipment squander opportunity.

The driving talent is still there. The support is not. And it's time for Kahne to move on.