Kahne's quick success impresses Evernham

HAMPTON, Ga. -- If career accomplishments are any indication, Ray Evernham certainly knows about talent. But Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Evernham said even he's floored with what Kasey Kahne has accomplished in just three Nextel Cup races.

"This young man has probably as much talent as anyone I've ever seen out of anybody in a long, long time," Evernham said. "When the stakes get high or when the pressure is on, and they perform, that's what makes the great ones great. He has all the potential to do that."

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That's high praise when you consider that as a crew chief, Evernham led a young hotshot named Jeff Gordon to 47 wins and three NASCAR championships. As an owner, he's got four wins in four years.

"In short, he knows what it takes to win at NASCAR's highest level. Even a dazed Kahne had difficulty finding words when told about Evernham's comments.

"That's a really high compliment," Kahne said, shaking his head while smiling. "I don't know what to say."

Kahne, meanwhile, has many in NASCAR as floored as Evernham. Heading into this weekend's Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta, Kahne has two second-place finishes in the Nextel Cup Series (both runner-up to Matt Kenseth).

He also had a Bud Pole Award at Las Vegas last weekend and a second-place finish to Kevin Harvick in last Saturday's Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

	Credit: Autostock

"Things have been going really smooth," Kahne said. I never expected this so soon. I've never been in such a good situation."

But even more than his work on the wheel, Evernham says Kahne has a quality that very few drivers possess.

"When you find someone that can communicate what going on with the car at the same time that he's learning the racetrack, that's really somebody special," Evernham said. "I haven't seen that in a long time.

"I try to talk to him on Mondays about what happened Sunday and he's saying it to me before I have a chance to say it to him," Evernham said. "He has amazed me."

That's not to say that Evernham is fitting Kahne for a Nextel Cup champion's jacket just yet. He said as hard as it is to stay grounded, Kahne and his team have to do it.

"We're so happy with what he's done so far, but we need to keep our expectations at a reasonable level. I kind of see the snowball gaining momentum," Evernham said, "but you can't think about that. If you stop and reflect, you fall behind everyone else."

"His most important race is the next one he's going to run," he said.

After all, Evernham says, Kahne is a rookie. Even though his young driver is disproving the theory that there's a learning curve for rookies, Evernham knows one is coming -- both on and off the track.

"We know that there are going to tracks that he's going to struggle on and we also know that the people who are struggling so far this year probably aren't going to be struggling for long. They're all going to catch up.

"The No. 1 priority is driving the race car. There's going to be a time when he's going to have to say no to some things because there are only 24 hours a day. I don't want to put too much pressure on him."

Atlanta Motor Speedway has been fairly kind to Kahne. He's competed there twice in the Busch Series and finished seventh there last fall.

"We tested there before Las Vegas and we were really fast," Kahne said. "Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks because it's fast and it has several different grooves.

While Kahne obviously would liked to have won each of the past two races, he's confident his day is coming.

"To run second in two consecutive races is a great accomplishment, but I know we'll be in Victory Lane eventually."