(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 /
Dodge Avenger for
Gillett Evernham Motorsports with teammates
Scott Riggs and
Elliott Sadler . Off the track, Kasey is active in charitable work and is a member of the
President's Council On Service And Civic Participation . He is also an owner in the
World Of Outlaws series, fielding a car for
Joey Saldana .
Kahne began racing open wheel sprint cars at Deming speedway in Deming, Washington, before moving up to Skagit speedway in Alger, WA then he moved to USAC. He was hired by
Steve Lewis , who had also employed future NASCAR drivers
Jeff Gordon and
Kenny Irwin, Jr. . In his first year on the circuit, he was named Rookie of the Year, as well winning the national midget championship, . After that season, he continued to run USAC, as well as the Toyota Atlantic Series and the
World Of Outlaws .
Kasey Kahne made 20 starts in the
Busch Series driving the #98 Channellock
Ford Taurus for
Robert Yates Racing . His best finish was a tenth-place finish at
Cabela's 250 . In
2003 , he moved to the #38
Great Clips Ford for
Akins Motorsports . He won his first pole at
Michigan International Speedway and his first Busch race at the
Ford 300 . He also made a pair of starts in the
Craftsman Truck Series in the #2
Team ASE Racing Dodge Ram for
Ultra Motorsports , winning in both starts.
Kahne replaced
Bill Elliott in the #9 Dodge at the end of 2003 when Elliott announced a part-time schedule starting with the 2004 season. Due to the fact that Kahne was still under contract with Ford, a lawsuit began when Kahne decided to go to Evernham, driving a car that was being sponsored by
Dodge . Ford eventually got money from Kahne, allowing him to go to Dodge. In 2004, Kahne surprised many by nearly winning several races (including five second-place finishes and 13 top-fives), winning four poles and captured the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award. He drove 30 races for Akins in the Busch Series, finishing fifteenth in points.
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. He made 22 starts in the
Busch Series , splitting time with Akins and Evernham's new #6 team. He won the
O'Reilly 300 at
Texas Motor Speedway , and the
United Way 300 at
Kansas Speedway .
.]]
On Monday,
March 20 ,
2006 , Kahne won the rain delayed
Golden Corral 500 at
Atlanta Motor Speedway . Nearly three weeks later, he won the
Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas. He won four races after that, among them a season sweep at
Lowe's Motor Speedway in the
Coca-Cola 600 and the
Bank Of America 500 , holding off
Jimmie Johnson , who would go on to finish second in both events. He also won at California and Michigan.
On
September 9 2006, Kahne successfully raced his way into the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup by finishing third at Richmond. Kasey was the 10th and last qualifier for the Chase, edging defending NEXTEL Cup Champion
Tony Stewart out by 16 points. But a disappointing crash at
Dover made an impact on Kahne's 8th place finish in the points. Kahne also won 2 Busch Series races in '06.
at
Texas Motor Speedway .]]
During the qualifying sessions for the 2007
Daytona 500 , officials found holes in the wheel-wells of his
Dodge Charger . A crew member said it was just a tape that covered the hole fell off. Officials said that the tape had been cut. He was one of the four drivers among
Matt Kenseth and his two teammates,
Scott Riggs and
Elliott Sadler whose cars had been found with aerodynamic-improving modifications. His team was one of the six teams found with illegal modifications in the Daytona festivities.
On March 9, 2007 Kasey Kahne won the pole for the
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 making him eligible for the 2008
Budweiser Shootout .
On May 26, 2007 Kahne won the
Busch Series Carquest Auto Parts 300 race at
Lowe's Motor Speedway scoring his first win of 2007.
Team owner
Ray Evernham has been negotiating with
Budweiser to sponsor the #9 car in 2008, after
Budweiser announced that they would no longer sponsor
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 08.
Dodge may be willing to make room for Bud on #9 Dodge
On August 24, 2007 Kasey won the pole for the
Food City 500 at
Bristol Motor Speedway , his second pole of the
2007 NEXTEL Cup season. Later that night, during the
Busch Series Food City 250 , Kahne passed Ryan Newman on the top side in a 3-wide pass that included
Jason Leffler on the bottom. He held off the hard charging Leffler to win the
Food City 250 for his 7th career
Busch Series win and his 2nd of 2007.
The next day during the
Food City 500 , Kahne dominated most of the race leading 305 of 500 laps and finished 2nd to
Carl Edwards . This is currently his best finish of the 2007 season.
