Kasey Kahne won at Richmond in May of this year. Credit: Autostock

Kahne signs contract extension with Evernham

Inking caps rocky period for second-year Cup driver

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- You can officially cross Kasey Kahne's name off any Silly Season lists.

On Saturday, Evernham Motorsports president Ray Evernham announced he has signed Kahne to a long-term Nextel Cup extension. Terms and conditions were not provided.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Kasey Kahne's Nextel Cup stats Category Stat Starts 56 Wins 1 Top-5s 17 Top-10s 19 Poles 6 Avg. Start 13.5 Avg. Finish 18.5 ALSO •   Dodge Fast Track

"We don't really want to get into specifics of the contract," Evernham said. "But when you say long-term, it is honestly fairly long-term.

"All I can say is that Kasey will be into his 30s and I will be way older than I want to tell you about."

The extension caps a 10-day period for Kahne which included having Ford's lawsuit on alledged breach of contract thrown out in federal court.

"To be done with that whole Ford issue and re-sign with Ray Evernham and everybody with Dodge, it was a very good week for us," Kahne said.

"Just to know I'm going to have the same race team with the same group of guys working on it, ... it's a big deal for myself and I'm just excited to be with Ray for a lot longer."

Evernham admitted that having his drivers and sponsors under commitment provides a sense of continuity.

"I think you go ahead and make a long-term agreement and know you don't have to worry then about being distracted or them being worried about you being distracted by somebody else," Evernham said. "You can just focus on the job at hand. ...

"Evernham Motorsports is intact for the future, and now all we have to do is get our Dodge Chargers in contention for the championship."

Evernham also said he plans to campaign a third Nextel Cup car in the near future.

"We've got a car, we just don't have anybody to drive it right now," he said. "We'd like to have had a driver already. We are talking to couple different drivers and looking at some options.

In addition, Evernham plans to have Kahne run full-time in the Busch Series, along with Erin Crocker if a separate program can be put together. He also plans to get open-wheel driver A.J. Foyt IV some seat time later this season.

"The best case scenario, Kasey is in our Busch car most of the time and Erin has her own full-time program," Evernham said. "Second case scenario would be that Kasey and Erin split the Busch car. I don't plan on doing a second full-time deal, so it would have to be in partnership with somebody else."