(born
April 10 ,
1980 in
Enumclaw, Washington ) is a driver in
NASCAR 's
NEXTEL Cup series. He currently drives the #9
Dodge Dealers/
UAW Dodge Charger for
Evernham Motorsports with teammates
Jeremy Mayfield and
Scott Riggs .
He replaced
Bill Elliott in the #9 Dodge at the end of
2003 when Elliott announced a part-time schedule starting with the 2004 season.
In
2004 , Kahne surprised many by nearly winning several races (including five second-place finishes and 13 top-fives), winning four poles and easily capturing the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award.
He scored his first career NEXTEL Cup victory in his sophomore season of
2005 , after a dominating performance in the
Chevy American Revolution 400 at
Richmond International Raceway . It was also the first victory for the Dodge Charger, which returned to NASCAR in 2005. He also scored two poles in back-to-back weeks at
Darlington and Richmond during the same year.
On Monday,
March 20 ,
2006 , Kahne won a rain-postponed
Golden Corral 500 at
Atlanta Motor Speedway . Nearly three weeks later, he won the
Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at
Texas Motor Speedway .
Kahne is also a part time
Busch Series driver, driving the #9
Unilever Dodge with his Cup teammates. He has won four Busch Series races in his career and also made two starts in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2004, winning both events.
Kahne resides in
Huntersville, North Carolina with his younger brother Kale Kahne. Kahne also has an older sister, Shannon.
