Kasey Kahne was no stranger to television cameras in 2004. Credit: Autostock

In Review: Kasey Kahne

Despite honors, Victory Lane eluded NASCAR's top rookie in 2004

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Kasey Kahne did everything in his rookie Nextel Cup season but win.

But did he come close. Boy, did he come close.

Kahne posted five second-place finishes in 2004, including three in the season's first seven races. His first runner-up finish was at Rockingham, where he came up .01 seconds short of Matt Kenseth. That's about a foot.

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Then at Texas, Kahne lost to Elliott Sadler by .028 seconds. Another foot.

His other second-place finishes? He lost to Kenseth by 3.4 seconds at Las Vegas, by .263 seconds to Sadler at California and lost to Ryan Newman under caution at Michigan.

So if you're counting, that's .301 seconds from winning three races. Oh, and there were some other races Kahne could have won, too. Remember how dominant he was at Charlotte?

Of course, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, Kahne would be happy at Christmas. He didn't win in 2004, no matter the reason.

"Everybody talks about luck and this and that," Kahne said. "I don't know if it's luck or it's just not our time yet or whatever it is. Sooner or later we'll win. I don't know when that will be, but I don't think we're missing much.

Kasey Kahne finished second five times in 2004. Credit: Autostock

"I think we have a great race team. A lot of times when we didn't win it wasn't because of a bad pit stop or out on the track. It's because of things you just can't control and things that went wrong. It's part of racing. It's part of the ups and downs. We've had a lot of ups and downs this year. We're ready to win."

Kahne and his Evernham Motorsports team will have to wait a couple more months for another chance to win. But, yes, Kahne is right. He and crew chief Tommy Baldwin are ready to win. More than ready.

And that's a lot more than many expected when Ray Evernham paired the young rookie with the talented Baldwin. Bill Elliott was going to retire, and Evernham picked Kahne to take Elliott's seat in the No. 9 Dodge.

Kahne seemed an unlikely choice, for he didn't have a single Cup start on his resume. But almost immediately, Kahne proved the doubters wrong.

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After seven races, Kahne had four top-three finishes, two poles and was seventh in the points.

Remember, though, he was a rookie. And his season would be all roses.

He crashed early in the race at Bristol, crashed at Dover while leading when he slipped in some oil, crashed at Chicago while leading from contact with Tony Stewart, and crashed at Charlotte while leading when a tire went down.

Throw in a blown engine in the Daytona 500, a broken flywheel at the second Dover race and an overheating engine at Homestead and Kahne had seven DNFs.

Kahne had his problems at some other tracks, specifically short tracks and road courses. He didn't have a single top-10 at any of those events, including the crucial second Richmond race, where he was 14th and dropped from the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"I need to improve on the short tracks, the road courses," Kahne said. "I need to improve in a lot of ways. We're figuring out which ways each person needs to improve on our team, and it's going to make us a better race team. By next year, hopefully, we're leaps and bounds above where we are right now."

Car owner Ray Evernham has compared Kasey Kahne to a young Jeff Gordon. Credit: Autostock

If that happens, Kahne should be a contender for the Nextel Cup championship. He finished 2004 with 13 top-five finishes, second-most among rookies in the past 25 years.

And, of course, he won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award.

"It means a lot. This is our goal of the season," Kahne said. "We wanted to win a race and we wanted to do this and do that, but the goal was to win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. We were able to do that. It's a huge award. The drivers that have done it in the past -- to be on that list is really cool for me, really neat for me.

"Our team was behind it all season long. The team is really excited to be able to do it, too. They're just as excited as I am. It's something that we can build off of. We did a lot this year together and we're going to build off it for next year and hopefully have a much better season in '05."