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Long-time Penske driver waits patiently for Sprint Cup ride

Photos from Penske Racing’s greatest moments hang on the walls of the organization, and one of defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski is the latest addition. There’s also another from last season, one of the inaugural nascar Nationwide Series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Sam Hornish Jr. finished second to the younger and more decorated — by NASCAR standards, anyway — teammate.

“Like sticking the knife in there,” Hornish said with a wry smile.

That’s Hornish — a Penske company man to the core. He could have left after last season, and everyone would have understood. He swallowed his pride two years ago and put up with a limited Nationwide schedule, then took over the No. 22 Sprint Cup car last season when AJ Allmendinger was suspended, then was asked to step aside when Joey Logano was hired for 2013. He received some interest from other teams, and no one would have blamed him for breaking ranks.

But there’s something about all those photos on the wall. There’s something about that starched white Penske dress shirt, which seems to fit Hornish as well as anyone save Roger Penske himself. There’s something about the bond built over nine years racing under Penske, through an open-wheel series championship and an Indianapolis 500 crown and a turbulent transition to NASCAR. There’s something about loyalty that led Hornish to stay — to once again pursue the Nationwide title, and hope another Sprint Cup opportunity comes.

"Whatever I do with this, I want to do it and be competitive with it."

— Sam Hornish Jr.

“I feel like Roger’s been very loyal to me, I’ve been very loyal to him,” Hornish said. “I want to do things in the right way, and I feel like if we win this championship, that would be great. I feel like there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to do that.”

If there’s any bitterness over being bypassed for the No. 22 Sprint Cup ride, it never shows. Hornish was in the midst of a full Nationwide campaign last July when he got the call — on the set of a television show, no less — that Allmendinger had been suspended for failing a random drug test, and he was needed in Daytona immediately for that night’s event. He barely made it, catching a ride to the starting grid during opening ceremonies, and from there began a double-duty stretch that a few times had him competing in different places on the same weekend.

Allmendinger was ultimately released. When the time came to fill the ride for 2013 — a key hire, given all the turnover the Shell/Pennzoil car had experienced over the previous year —  the team chose Logano, on whose behalf Keselowski had fiercely lobbied. For Hornish, that meant back to the Nationwide tour.

“I was a little bit disappointed, because I want to race on Sunday,” he said. “And I thought that would give me the opportunity to do it. I had a relationship with Shell/Pennzoil when I ran IndyCars. But it didn’t work out, and I had a choice to make: I could sit there and be upset about it and depressed, or I could go on and try to finish the year good. I could try to take care of my teammate and help him out any way that I could for the rest of the season, and that’s what I did. There was nothing I could do to change it at that point and time. The only thing I could do was go out there and make myself look bad.”

Which isn’t Hornish’s style. It helped that former Penske driver Rusty Wallace used his television platform to argue that the Logano hire was a mistake, and that Hornish should have gotten the job. It helped that Hornish finished a career-best fourth in final Nationwide points, and did some testing that aided Keselowski’s quest for the Sprint Cup crown. It helped that some other teams showed interest, even if Hornish ultimately wasn’t willing to make a move.

“We actually had a couple of people talk to us about it, and it’s just a difficult thing,” Hornish said. “I don’t want Roger ever to think I’m out actively searching for something else. He also knows that if he can’t provide me with something that is going to be a good opportunity for me, he’s definitely not going to hold me back from it, either. Whatever I do with this, I want to do it and be competitive with it. I don’t want to just go and find a way to make five grand on a weekend and go home. I’d rather spend the time with my kids.”

Penske still blames himself for not starting Hornish on the Nationwide tour — as opposed to throwing him directly into Sprint Cup, which produced a forgettable debut season that’s taken the driver a long time to come back from. But there’s been real progress made over the past 18 months, beginning with Hornish’s first national-series race victory, and followed by a genuine championship purist last year. Over the offseason Hornish was paired with new crew chief Greg Erwin, who three times made the Chase for the Sprint Cup with Greg Biffle.

Now, Penske believes Hornish is ready to take the next step. “I said to him, ‘If there’s an opportunity in Cup and you want it (you can have it); but I can tell you one thing: we’re going to give you the best car and the best crew chief we can to run in the (Nationwide) Series this year,’” Penske said. “The goal, I said to him … is to win the championship. Not second or third, it’s to win the championship. I think he’s got the tools and the ability to do it now.”

And if that happens? There are sponsor commitments for a few Sprint Cup races for Hornish this season, and Penske continues to weigh the merits of expanding to three teams. He seriously considered it for this season, given that his former driver Ryan Newman was available before signing a one-year extension with Stewart-Haas. Clearly, much of that hinges on sponsorship availability. But if Hornish does win the Nationwide title, and everything else falls into line?

“I think I’ve got to look at Hornish as the next person,” Penske said. “If he meets the goals that we would expect, and we get the support from the sponsors we have, he could be the next (Sprint Cup) driver.”

For Hornish, that’s the goal. And even after the disappointment of not getting the ride in the No. 22 car, he’s always believed that the best way to get there is by staying exactly where he is.

“At the end of 2010, there were not lot of people fighting for me to have a Cup ride,” he said, referring to his most recent full-time season at NASCAR’s top level. “And at the end of 2012 I had Rusty Wallace on national TV saying I should have a Cup ride — not only a Cup ride, but a premier Cup ride. So I’m really appreciative of just getting the opportunity to run in the 22 last year. I feel like if I keep my head down, we’re going to take our sponsors like Alliance and Wurth and we’re going to bring new ones on board, and we’re going to get back there.”

Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

Clint Bowyer illustrated his vast personality in sports car debut

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — You could call Clint Bowyer the clown prince of the Rolex 24 — but for one thing. 

Yes, Bowyer had the media center in stitches after his first stint in the AF Waltrip Ferrari 458. On the track, however, in his first sports car competition, Bowyer showed some serious speed, as he and teammates Rob Kauffman, Michael Waltrip and Rui Aguas finished eighth in the GT classification and 16th overall in GRAND-AM’s most prestigious race.

Bowyer may downplay his own contribution, but don’t kid yourself. He won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event last June at Sonoma Raceway with a near-perfect drive. On Saturday and Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, Bowyer held his own against some of the world’s most talented and experienced sports car drivers.

"The guys that talk to you (on the radio), I can’t understand ’em, other than ‘Pit!"

—Clint Bowyer, on the Italian engineers on his team radio

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t lighten the mood of reporters facing a long night of race coverage.

Bowyer paid a visit to the media center after his first stint on the track. That was at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, four hours into the race.

"What time is it anyway–7:30?" Bowyer asked. "We’re almost to halfway, right? Who came up with the idea of a 24-hour race anyway?"

Herb Branham, NASCAR’s managing director of communications for GRAND-AM Road Racing, informed Bowyer that the vision for the Rolex 24 came from NASCAR founder Bill France Sr.

"That’s pretty cool then!" Bowyer replied.

If NASCAR had a statistical category for "saves," Bowyer would be the early-season leader. 

Bowyer also had issues trying to understand the Italian engineers on his team radio. The AF Waltrip team is a collaboration between Michael Waltrip Racing and an AF Corse organization, based in Italy, that has raced to considerable international acclaim.

The "AF" in AF Corse stands for team founder Amato Ferrari.

"The guys that talk to you (on the radio), I can’t understand ’em, other than ‘Pit!’" Bowyer said. "You can understand ‘Pit’ and that’s pretty much it. I asked them for lap times, and you might as well just carry on a conversation with yourself."

Nevertheless, the pomp and circumstance of the Rolex 24 wasn’t lost on Bowyer, who will return to Daytona in two weeks for Daytona 500 qualifying.

"This is their biggest race of the year," Bowyer said. "I think our Daytona 500 is exactly like that, with the thrill and the excitement in the air like that, especially down on the starting grid. It’s kind of comparable, but it sure is cool to see all the action, all the excitement, neat cars, a lot of different cars from what I’m used to…

"There was body paint. I certainly liked the body paint. I thought that was a great addition to the day. Some of them had umbrellas. It was fun!"

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First winner of consecutive titles bulled way to NASCAR Hall of Fame

Editor’s note: This release is part of a series in advance of the 2013 NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Charlotte, N.C. on Feb. 8, broadcast live at 7:30 p.m. ET on SPEED, Motor Racing Network Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Buck Baker, Cotton Owens, Herb Thomas, Rusty Wallace and Leonard Wood are the five 2013 inductees. Click here to download and listen to a special NASCAR Hall of Fame podcast on Herb Thomas with historian Buz McKim.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Buck Baker personified the term “old school.”

Elzie Wylie “Buck” Baker, winner of 46 NASCAR Sprint Cup races and the series’ first back-to-back champion, personified the phrase “no quarter asked and none given.”

Baker, whose NASCAR career spanned portions of four decades beginning in 1949, had one goal: to win. How he got there, well, that was up to Baker.

PROFILES OF INDUCTEES
Ceremony set for Feb. 8

• Buck Baker
• Cotton Owens
• Herb Thomas
• Rusty Wallace
• Leonard Wood

“He was the perfect example of how a (stock car) driver used to be; the typical Scotch-Irish driver of the past,” said H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, the former president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway and one-time sportswriter. “If you were in a corner and (it was) someplace he wanted to go, he’d be there. Either you’d be in the wall or he would.

“However fast the car would go, he’d get there in a fairly spectacular fashion. He was one of the best and certainly one of the toughest.”

Baker’s son, Elzie Wylie “Buddy” Baker Jr., puts it this way. “He was not a bully. He wasn’t out to create problems,” said Baker, who counts the 1980 Daytona 500 and 1972-73 Coca-Cola 600s among 19 NASCAR premier series victories. “But he didn’t run from them either.

“If you were racing against him, you didn’t like him very much. But you had to be tough back then.”

Buck Baker, who died in 2002 at age 83, is among five being inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Feb. 8. His fellow members of the class of 2013 – the hall’s fourth – are NASCAR premier series champions Herb Thomas and Rusty Wallace; championship car owner Cotton Owens and innovative engine builder, mechanic and crew chief Leonard Wood.

Born in 1919 on a farm near Chester, S.C., Baker as a child gained the nickname “Buck” because he shared the reckless abandon of a bull calf by the same name the family owned.  Without job prospects after discharge from the U.S. Navy, Baker hauled alcohol effectively polishing the skills he’d need on the race track.  He later drove a bus and – by his son’s estimation – won hundreds of modified stock car races including 27 weeks in a row at Charlotte’s Southern State Fairgrounds.

“The same people booing him would line up (for autographs) at the bus stop on Monday,” said Buddy Baker.

Racing out of Charlotte, N.C., Baker won his first NASCAR premier series race at Columbia, S.C., a .5-mile dirt track driving a Hudson Hornet. NASCAR Hall of Fame member Lee Petty – a perennial rival – finished second.

Baker won the 1953 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and posted his first of eight consecutive points finishes among the top five. He won 11 times between 1953-55 then joined the powerhouse Carl Kiekhaefer Chrysler-Dodge organization, for which Tim Flock won the 1955 championship with 18 victories in 39 starts.

Kiekhaefer, owner of Mercury Outboards, entered cars in 190 races over two seasons, winning 52 times, before exiting the sport as abruptly as he’d appeared. Baker – who’d run second to Flock driving for himself and several other owners in 1955 – hustled Kiekhaefer’s Hemi engine-powered cars to the 1956 title on the strength of 13 wins, 12 poles and 30 top-five and 38 top-10 finishes.

With Kiekhaefer gone, Baker returned to Chevrolets in 1957. He won the championship and 10 races: six in his own car and four at the wheel of a Chevy owned by Hugh Babb.

Baker finished second to Petty for the 1958 championship and continued to win but at a diminished pace. His final victory came at age 44 in the 1964 Southern 500 driving a Dodge fielded by NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Ray Fox.

Named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 – he also won the sanctioning body’s Speedway Division title in 1952, driving an Indianapolis-type car powered by a Cadillac engine – Baker opened a stock car driving school in retirement. According to Buddy Baker, it was his father’s way of giving back to the sport.

“He said, ‘I’m not going to race but I have a lot to offer to kids who are just starting out,’” said Baker, who was one of the school’s instructors. Jeff Gordon was among the thousands of Baker’s students. So was NASCAR Nationwide Series champion and current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Joe Nemechek, who asked for and received Baker’s permission to use the driver’s old car number – 87.

The younger Baker, who’ll induct his father into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, was renowned for his mastery of Daytona and Talladega. He was the first in NASCAR to officially record a lap at an average speed of 200 mph. Yet Baker still marvels at his father’s talent.

“He could do things in a race car I could only dream about,” said Baker. “Throughout the entire racing world, I don’t know of anybody who would have said he didn’t give 110% from the time they dropped the green flag until the race was over. He was the same way in life, too.”

Induction ceremonies will take place at 7:30 p.m. ET in the Crown Ball Room at the Charlotte Convention Center which is directly connected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The event is the first half of NASCAR

Acceleration Weekend followed on Saturday, Feb. 9 by NASCAR Preview 2013. Tickets for the ceremonies start at $45 (available at www.nascaracceleration.com) and the NASCAR Hall of Fame box office. In addition, a $20 ticket will gain fans all-day access into NASCAR Preview 2013 and the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Saturday, Feb. 9.

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GRAND-AM: Post-race inspection revealed mechanical adjustment

GRAND-AM Road Racing announced Thursday that the third-place No. 60 Ford was found with mechanical adjustments following an inspection after the Rolex 24 had ended.

According to a GRAND-AM release, adjustments to the engine resulted in performance levels outside the allowed maximums.

Michael Shank Racing must forfeit its third-place prize money ($35,000), and it also has been docked 30 team championship points.

The drivers — which include NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Marcos Ambrose and AJ Allmendinger, along with Ozz Negri, John Pew and Justin Wilson — were all penalized 30 driver championship points as well. Ford was penalized 30 manufacturer championship points.

The team was also fined $15,000, which goes to GRAND-AM’s official charity, Camp Boggy Creek.

The 24-hour event that kicks off the sports car season took place Jan. 26-27 at Daytona International Speedway.

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Veteran Pardue brought in to help ease transition

NTS Motorsports has hired a veteran crew chief to help ease 22-year-old driver Brennan Newberry’s transition into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

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Eddie Pardue, who has worked in NASCAR since 1993, will serve as a crew chief in the Truck Series for the first time in his career. He has 276 races as a crew chief to his credit, 275 of which came in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Newberry is embarking on his first full-time season in the Truck Series. He ran in 10 races last year, finishing 19th at Michigan in his best showing. He also has one top five and three top 10s in 10 races in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West.

"I’m extremely motivated going into the 2013 season with Eddie as my crew chief," Newberry said. "He has a successful history of working with young drivers and I believe his personality will mesh well with mine to create the positive chemistry we need to be successful on the track."

Pardue has three career wins and 37 top-five finishes. He served as Tayler Malsam’s crew chief last season in the Nationwide Series. The duo posted one top-10 finish in 26 races. 

"NTS Motorsports has an incredible amount of support behind it, so I have a ton of confidence going into 2013,” Pardue said. “Having worked with a lot of talented drivers, I can tell that Brennan and I are going to have a lot of success together."

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JR Motorsports lures five-time Cup champ for Phoenix race

Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will drive in one NASCAR Nationwide Series race for JR Motorsports in 2013.

Johnson, who last raced in the Nationwide Series in 2011, will pilot the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet in the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on March 2, team owner Kelley Earnhardt Miller announced Thursday.

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“I appreciate Junior letting me run one of his cars,” Johnson said of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. “My goal is to make my team owner so proud that, perhaps, he’ll invite me back more often than once every two years. In all seriousness, this is a great opportunity for me to get more familiar with the new configuration at PIR.”

Johnson’s one Nationwide race in 2011 was also with JRM, and it resulted in a second-place finish at Watkins Glen International. Johnson has four career wins at Phoenix, all on the Sprint Cup level.

In his NASCAR career, Johnson has 92 Nationwide starts. The majority, 64, came during his two full-time campaigns in 2000 and 2001. His lone Series victory came in 2001 at Chicagoland Speedway.

JR Motorsports has 10 Nationwide Series wins to its credit as an organization. The most recent was in the Series’ most recent race, when Regan Smith drove to victory in last year’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Great Clips has a 28-race sponsorship with JRM. In addition to Johnson, Earnhardt will drive the Great Clips-sponsored No. 88 car at Talladega Superspeeday in May. Kasey Kahne will also drive a handful of races in the No. 5.

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Biagi-DenBeste Racing thrilled with agreement for No. 98

Kevin Swindell and Biagi-DenBeste Racing will return to the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season, but in a much bigger role.

After a two-race season in 2012, Swindell and Biagi-DenBeste Racing announced Thursday that the pairing will run in 15 Nationwide Series races in 2013, starting at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 9. Swindell’s full schedule has not yet been announced.

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The 23-year-old talent has six Nationwide races in three seasons to his credit; his best finish came last year with a ninth-place showing at Texas Motor Speedway in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge. Swindell also made 15 starts in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East from 2008-10, finishing with two top-five finishes and six top 10s.

“I am really thankful to Fred Biagi and Bill DenBeste for the great opportunity that I have to race for them this season," said Swindell, who will drive the No. 98. "I have been waiting for a chance to gain experience and race for a top-notch team for a long time. … I look forward to seeing what the team and I can achieve together this year.”

Swindell is perhaps best known for racing on dirt and in Automobile Racing Club of America. The son of well-known sprint car star Sammy Swindell, Kevin Swindell is the four-time consecutive champion of the Chili Bowl, which is regarded as the biggest Midget Nationals race of the year.

Jon Hanson will serve as Swindell’s crew chief; Steve Plattenberger remains the team manager and competition director.

"We are really proud to have an outstanding young talent like Kevin driving for our team," said Biagi-DenBeste Racing co-owner Fred Biagi. "After coming off of his fourth consecutive Chili Bowl win, Kevin enters the 2013 season with a lot of momentum.”

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Bill Romanowski’s supplement company to sponsor No. 30 Toyota for 10 races

One of the NFL’s most feared linebackers in his heyday can now add "NASCAR team owner" to his prolific resume.

Bill Romanowski, who played 16 seasons in the NFL, has signed on as a minority owner of Swan Racing, a full-time competitor in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The retired NFL star joins forces with upstart team owner Brandon Davis, who is leading Swan into its first full racing season. Romanowski’s health supplement company, Nutrition53, also signed on as a team sponsor and will be the primary sponsor for 10 races on the No. 30 Toyota driven by David Stremme. Nutrition53 will have an associate sponsor position on the car for the other 26 races. 

"Bill Romanowski understands what it takes to win, which makes him a perfect fit at Swan Racing," said the majority owner Davis. "Bill is the only linebacker to start in five Super Bowls, and he did it playing for four different teams. His leadership skills and approach to successful competition will help Swan Racing become a championship contender."

Nutrition53 will be featured on the No. 30 Toyota as the primary sponsor for 10 Sprint Cup races in 2013, which include: Texas (April 13), Charlotte (May 26 and October 12), Pocono (June 9 and August 4), Sonoma (June 23), Daytona (July 6), New Hampshire (July 14 and September 22), and Atlanta (September 1).

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"I am thrilled to jump into the NASCAR world as a part owner and as a sponsor," said Romanowski. "Brandon has a vision for how to build a championship contender and I’m eager to be part of it. I’m also excited about the integration of Nutrition53 products with NASCAR nation. As Americans are relentlessly attempting to embrace healthier lifestyles, Nutrition53 can help NASCAR fans, drivers, crew and media promote weight loss, memory improvement and rejuvenation through better sleep."

Romanowski started in an astounding 243 consecutive games — highlighted by five Super Bowl appearances as a linebacker — and was selected twice to the Pro Bowl. He played for the San Francisco 49ers (1988-1993), Philadelphia Eagles (1994-1995), Denver Broncos (1996-2001) and Oakland Raiders (2002-2003). 

Romanowski is founder and CEO of Nutrition53, which markets a line of supplemental health drinks and vitamins developed by a team of doctors, scientists and nutritionists to help with weight loss, energy, mental performance and sleep.  

Nutrition53’s Lean1 nutrition shake, a high performance shake designed to boost healthy, rapid weight loss without hunger, will be the primary sponsor for Swan’s pit crew.

The company claims that the Lean1 pit crew will be the leanest, meanest, fittest pit crew in NASCAR.

"Nutrition53 products will be used by the Swan Racing team to help them compete at a consistently high level for the full length of the grueling NASCAR schedule," said Romanowski. 

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Former crew chief promoted to director of competition

Furniture Row Racing announced Wednesday that Pete Rondeau, former crew chief of the No. 78 car, was promoted to director of competition. Rondeau has been with the team since 2010.

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Based in Denver, Rondeau will oversee the shop and building of the team’s 2013 Chevrolets, which Kurt Busch will drive.

Starting out as a car chief, Rondeau became the crew chief in May 2010 and handed over that duty in May 2012 to Todd Berrier.

“Since joining Furniture Row Racing, Pete has played a significant role with team development,” said team general manager Joe Garone. “His transition to the competition director position is having a positive impact in our continuing effort to strengthen our overall program.”          

“With the tremendous gains Furniture Row Racing has made in recent years and the solid foundation that it has built, the opportunity has never been better to reach a higher level of competition,” Rondeau said.

Before joining the Furniture Row Racing team, Rondeau worked at Evernham Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Jasper Motorsports in positions that included director of research and development and crew chief. He also was a racer himself, taking to short tracks and in NASCAR’s Pro Series East and the Whelen Modified Tour Series.

Posted on by Zack Albert

No. 5 driver finds long-awaited continuity at Hendrick Motorsports

One by one, the principals of Hendrick Motorsports walked onto the stage to meet the press during the Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway with their impressive credentials serving as an introduction.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the runaway 10-time most popular driver. Jimmie Johnson, the five-time champion. Rick Hendrick, a winner in NASCAR’s top series 209 times over. Jeff Gordon, the four-time champ and third on NASCAR’s all-time win list.

And then came Kasey Kahne, the fifth Beatle, fresh with a new, polarizing haircut.

While his 14 career Sprint Cup victories are nothing to dismiss, Kahne still seemed like a scrappy fifth seed in a bracket full of No. 1s when comparing the portfolios on Hendrick’s impressive roster. That’s when Hendrick issued a decisive note of caution and perspective.

"Hopefully this year can start better and we can get rolling early."

— Kasey Kahne

"I would not call Kasey Kahne an underdog," Hendrick said. "He has not had all the components around him yet and I think we’re getting there. Kasey Kahne has got the talent. He can run short tracks, speedways, has an unbelievable amount of car control and is a smart race car driver. He’ll win a championship. He will be a champion. He just hasn’t been in the right position. I think he’s in that position now."

The position Hendrick references is an enviable one for any driver, but especially for one who has withstood as much turnover as Kahne has in recent years. Although Kahne became a staple in the red No. 9 in the early stages of his career, the changes to his teams’ infrastructures reached far beyond the car number.

Ray Evernham’s team, which negotiated Kahne’s ascension into NASCAR’s big leagues, eventually became Gillett Evernham Motorsports before merging to form Richard Petty Motorsports in 2009. Petty’s organization then joined forces with Yates Racing later that year.

By 2010, Kahne was ready for a move to greener, more permanent pastures. On April 13, three days after his 30th birthday, Kahne announced he would join Rick Hendrick, but not until the 2012 season as the powerhouse team navigated Mark Martin‘s transition to a part-time driving career. That left Kahne in a one-season whistle stop at Red Bull Racing before taking the reins of Hendrick’s No. 5.

Now Kahne’s position is one of growing stability and continuity, more seasoned and more familiar with the organization’s system as his sophomore season at Hendrick begins.

"It’s the first time in a long time we’ve come into the new year with the same team behind us and the same working group," said Kenny Francis, Kahne’s crew chief since the final race of the 2005 season. "The past three or four years, there’s been a lot of turmoil, a lot of change. Now we hope that it’s just a little more relaxing getting there."

If anyone seems relaxed, it’s Kahne, despite the high expectations and burbling talk of a championship run in 2013. Those expectations start from within and at the top at Hendrick, where the team made good on the owner’s bold goal of landing four cars in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup last season. It’s the sort of confidence that can add pressure or motivation, or perhaps a healthy mix of the two.

"It’s probably a little bit of both," Kahne says, "but I feel like the reason he says that is because he knows what he has. He knows the people that he has here and it didn’t happen overnight. Rick’s just really confident and it’s neat to be a part of all that."

Kahne possessed similarly high hopes for the start of the 2012 campaign, when the team stumbled out of the starting blocks in a major letdown. By April, Kahne had claimed two pole positions but a crash, an engine failure, multiple miscues and instances of bad luck in the first six races left the team 31st in points with all the appearances of a Chase outsider.

From that resounding thud, Kahne ripped off seven consecutive top-10 finishes — including a Coca-Cola 600 victory — to jump 17 spots in the standings. Another, more modest run during the summer helped Kahne rally against the long odds to clinch a Wild-Card berth in the Chase.

"Even starting out slow, I always knew we had the speed and we were kind of in the ballpark," said Kahne, who eventually converted his Chase eligibility into a career-best fourth-place finish in the standings. "Once we got past the bad luck, the driving errors, the little issues we had, I thought things went pretty smoothly from that point on. … We have a lot of things we can work on and I feel like we’ve looked at a lot of them throughout the offseason, so hopefully this year can start better and we can get rolling early."

The one thing that won’t require much fine-tuning will be the bond between driver and crew chief, one of few constants for the two during their pre-Hendrick years. With that amount of longevity, the critical art of communication has become second nature for the pairing, which will mark Kahne’s 10th Sprint Cup season as their eighth together.

That’s why keeping Francis, who said he communicates with Kahne "by osmosis sometimes," was a high priority for Hendrick when he hand-picked Kahne.

"I think now Kenny’s got a year under his belt. He didn’t even know half the guys on the crew when he started last year," Hendrick said. "We’ve refined that, and I predict he won’t have as rough a start this year, so I think it should be a much easier season. Every time you can go back and not change much with that chemistry between crew chief and driver and engineer, you’re better off.

"It’s like they’ve been here forever now. So I think this could be Kasey’s year."