Kenny Francis and Kasey Kahne have won more races than anyone in the Nextel Cup Series this season. Credit: Autostock

Shop Talk with... Francis

Kahne's crew chief says team will be ready for Chicagoland

Kenny Francis has helped take Kasey Kahne's Nextel Cup career to a new level since taking over as crew chief for the No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge this season.

Kahne is fourth in points and has a series-best four victories with Francis, who helped Jeremy Mayfield get into the Championship Chase the past two seasons.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Kasey Kahne in 2006 Starts 17 Wins 4 Top-5s 6 Top-10s 10 Poles 4 Laps run 4,747 Laps led 368 Avg. start 13.2 Avg. finish 14 Lead-lap finishes 13

A year ago at this time, Kahne wasn't in the top 20 in a season where he finished 23rd.

Francis doesn't like to take credit for the turnaround, calling it a team effort. He hopes that team effort continues building toward a championship run this week at Chicagoland Speedway, another 1.5-mile track similar to the facilities where Kahne posted his four wins.

Q: Kahne hasn't had much luck at Chicago, finishing 41st with engine problems last year and 36th the year before. But you've had a good run with Mayfield, finishing sixth last year and registering three straight top 10s there. What have you learned that will help with Kahne?

Francis: I don't have any secrets. Kasey runs well there. He blew a motor up last year and the year before Tony Stewart wrecked him while he was leading the thing. He just needs to find a way to finish the race.

Q: Kahne's mile-and-a-half program has been strong this season with all four wins coming on those tracks. What's been the key?

Francis: Kasey is just driving a lot better. Well, I don't know if he's driving better. He's racing a lot smarter and he knows when to race and when not to race and how to take care of his equipment. He really prioritized what he needed to do and is trying to work on that.

Q: Are you bringing back the "lucky'' car that has won at Atlanta, Texas, Charlotte and Michigan?

Francis: Yep, it's the same car.

Q: Is there something different about that car than the others?

Francis: Not really. It's pretty much our normal intermediate car. We build them all the same. Right now we've got only one other intermediate car and our back-up car, which is pretty much built the same. We've got the car that ran well at Pocono and Phoenix. It's just a matter of where the schedule falls as to which one you run.

We pretty much scheduled which cars would run where back in January. It hasn't changed much. This one doesn't have any more speed than the others. We've tested them all and they all run about the same.

Q: Crew chiefs have made some big calls the past two weeks with Phillippe Lopez gambling on fuel to help Terry Labonte finish third at Sonoma and Frank Stoddard electing not to pit last Saturday to help Boris Said finish fourth at Daytona. Do crew chiefs get enough credit?

Francis: We get pretty good recognition. Usually, there are not a whole lot of opportunities to make calls like that. It's pretty obvious what we've got to do. It's pretty rare when you get a chance to take a chance like that, and when you do you usually get attention for it.

Q: Any calls you'd like to take credit for?

Francis: I don't really dwell on the past. I just look to the future. You find an opportunity you take it.

Q: What do you like best about going to Chicago?

Francis: It's a track that should fit our program. Other than that, there's really nothing that stands out about the place.

Q: Do you have time to venture into the city?

Francis: No. I never go anywhere except to the hotel and the racetrack. That's pretty typical. There might be a decent restaurant we like to go to, but that's about it. Normally, I don't go out at all.

Q: Do you hang out with Kahne away from the track much?

Francis: Not really. He stays pretty busy. He's always somewhere doing an appearance or shooting a commercial or taking pictures. They keep him running. Boy, he's got a rough schedule. I wouldn't want to do what he has to do every week.

It's hard to have him stay focused with everything he's got going on around him. It doesn't leave time for hanging out. Normally, we're working every day at the shop, and then you come home and see the family and hang out with the kids and the wife. There's not much time to hang out after that.

Q: Do you do anything to help keep Kahne focused?

Francis: No, he does a good job with that himself. It's tough, though, with the Busch cars and the sponsor events he's got to attend.

Q: Do girls really drool over him like they do in the commercials?

Francis: There are always girls wanting to get his autograph and stuff like that. I try to stay as far away from that as possible.

Q: When are you going to be in a commercial with Kahne like Doug Richert is with Greg Biffle?

Francis: Probably not ever. I'm not to into that stuff.

Q: Sounds like you like to stay in the background and avoid attention?

Francis: Our PR people know to generally stay away from me. I do my job and go home. I just don't care to get involved in all of that.

Q: How are you able to take a Monday off during the season like you are this week?

Francis: We try to be normal, but we'll work on the Fourth. Today is our holiday. But you've got to take time off. With the labor laws now, you can't work forever and if you work a lot of hours you pay a lot of overtime. You try not to do that anyway because you don't want to get people burned out.

Q: Do you think you have a car to beat this week?

Francis: Hopefully, we'll be competitive and get a top-five. We had a decent run going at Sonoma and didn't finish because we had a flat tire with two to go on a restart. At Daytona we just struggled and ran 25th. We're looking for a good run to rebound.

Q: Are you just trying to build momentum for the Chase right now?

Francis: We kind of take it race by race. We'd like to be a little more assured of the Chase. The points race is still pretty tight from third back to 11th or so. So we're trying to run consistent, but at the same time if you've got a chance to win you take it.

Q: You've made the Chase twice with Mayfield and now are in line with Kahne. When are people going to realize you're the genius of the organization?

Francis: It takes a strong team, not just one person. We've got a pretty strong team around me. There are so many people behind the shop. It's not just me. It takes a dedicated team of people. You see teams that don't have that and you see them crumble.