Poster boy Kahne’s tumble shocks

DETROIT FREE PRESS

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Last year, Kasey Kahne won six races and six poles in his third year in Nextel Cup racing with Evernham Motorsports.

He was NASCAR’s poster boy, on and off the track.

Although Kahne, 27, didn’t sizzle in the Chase for the Championship, he finished the year eighth in points.

Believe it or not, Kahne is in 28th position after 14 races this season, which is perhaps the biggest surprise in stock car racing’s premier series.

His best finish is seventh, in the first race of the year, the Daytona 500. Although he has qualified well in most events, he has led just 66 laps this year, 28 of those at Dover a couple of weeks ago.

Kahne will start 36th in today’s Citizens Bank 400, on the outside of Row 18. It’s not the place the defending champion of the race wants to take the green flag from, but Kahne is not falling apart, either.

Changes in gear

“We’re doing all we can to try to figure out how to run up front again,” said Kahne outside his hauler at Michigan International Speedway. “We’ve made a couple of changes for this week and hope they work.”

Kahne will run the nose on his No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger he raced to victory at the track in the rain-shortened 3M Performance 400 in 2006. He said he can begin to turn around the season at MIS.

“I definitely think it could be,” said Kahne of a revival. “You’ve got a track I’ve finished top five at least four times, maybe five. That keeps you going. You know you can run well here. There’s a lot of room to race, a lot of room to pass, and I think we can have a good shot this weekend.”

Michigan is a big, wide oval where a good driver can find ways to win. Kahne is a special talent and it would be no surprise for him to rebound in the best possible way Sunday — repeat as the race winner.

“I’ve always been able to find speed when you can look around and search for the best spot for your car and just keep working on it, try to make it handle the best way,” said Kahne. “Momentum ... being able to search around and find places that your car works better than others. Both those things are factors that make me go fast.”