Kahne trying to shake off stormy start to year at TMS

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Kasey Kahne's not used to being in this position.

Last year he came to Texas with a victory and two fourth-place finishes while sitting fourth in points. But this year's different.

He's 34th in points, 513 behind leader Jeff Gordon. He's winless. He's finished on the lead lap just once -- the season-opening Daytona 500, where his seventh-place finish was one of just two times he's cracked the top 20.

A start to 2007 that many thought was an aberration has turned into a consistent string of bad finishes.

Kahne qualified second for the California race, led the first 20 laps and then blew a motor to finish 38th. He earned the pole for the Las Vegas race, led 13 laps and then crashed. At Atlanta he was supposed to dominate the same way he did a year ago to get the first of six victories. He didn't, starting 12th, finishing 39th and struggling all day.

A second-place start at Bristol ended three laps down in 19th.

At Martinsville, a week after narrowly securing a guaranteed starting position, he nearly took advantage of the free provisional -- he was the last car to qualify on time, starting 41st. The race was better, rebounding to a 25th-place finish.

So no -- being on the backside of the garage where the bottom half of the standings park isn't something to which Kahne and his No. 9 team are accustomed.

"We've had a little bit of everything, and I'm part of every one of those things," said Kahne, who began the season with 50-point driver and owner penalties. "The penalties don't help. But it just hasn't been our year so far. You can look at luck. You can look at mistakes. You can look at missing setups. We're just all trying to make things right.

"I haven't been down in any ways. Nobody's gotten mad at me, and I haven't gotten mad at them."

"I'm honestly happy with the way everybody's handling stuff," team owner Ray Evernham said. "They're not arguing, fighting and pointing fingers. They're trying to figure it out together."

That's why the team is glad to be in Texas this weekend. Sort of.

Kahne's 22.6 average finish at Texas Motor Speedway is skewed due to three blown engines in five starts. The two times Kahne did finish he was second in 2004 and he won this race last year.

When he returned in the fall, however, he battled with Tony Stewart to determine who had the car to beat. Turns out it was Stewart when Kahne, running second with 12 laps to go, pulled onto pit road with another blown engine.

No doubt the heat is on Kahne to turn his season around in a hurry. It's just not hot enough to turn it around in one race.

"Just pressure to run well, start running up front, gain some points, get back inside the top 20 and top 30," Kahne said. "That's where more of the pressure is. The part of running well here last year gives you some confidence. We were first and second in both races if we don't have a problem. So it definitely feels good to be here."

Evernham agreed, to some extent, as long as his squad keeps Texas part of the big picture.

"Right now they've got to stop worrying about how they've got to win, about how they've got to make the Chase," Evernham said. "We've got to get what we're capable of getting this weekend and move on.

"We've got to make sure that what we don't do is make mistakes. If we get out here and we've got an eight- or 10th-place car, that's what we should do -- get eighth or 10th. If we have an eighth- or 10th-place car and wreck it or blow it up or run 30th with it then we haven't done our job."

Yet the owner said just because the team isn't heading into this weekend with a win-at-all-costs attitude doesn't diminish the fact that it's on everyone's mind.

"Those guys will tell you that it's not, but it's there," Evernham said. "Some days we screw up an eighth-place car worrying about winning. It's because we're really competitive. We feel like we should win, but some days you've got to take what you've got and build on it."

And that's what Kahne wants to do to get his hauler parked back on the right side of the garage.

"I've been over here before. And I'll probably be over here again some other times," Kahne said. "It's the way things go. It's tough, but we have to take advantage of really good tracks for us, and this is one of them."