Turning the corner: Kahne, back on track after rocky year, visits East Tenn.

By Ryan Callahan
of The Daily Times Staff

SEVIERVILLE -- Kasey Kahne has that feeling again.

Sure, he came away empty-handed Sunday after starting from the pole in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Infineon Raceway, and he didn't even win either of his abbreviated go-cart races Wednesday at NASCAR SpeedPark.

But after a turbulent year that admittedly shook one of racing's brightest young stars, Kahne finally believes he can win again.

"Every time we come to the track, we realize that we have a shot," Kahne said Wednesday. "We have a shot to run in the top 10. We have a shot, if we're there all day, maybe to win late in the race."

He now has proof.

Kahne arrived for his recreational races and autograph session at NASCAR SpeedPark as one of the hottest drivers in the Sprint Cup Series, having driven his No. 9 Budweiser Dodge to wins in two of his last five races and to the pole position in two of his last three starts.

He ended a 52-race winless drought with a victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 25, eight days after he won the Sprint All-Star Race, a non-points event on the same track.

Kahne won from the pole two weeks later in a dominating performance at Pocono Raceway, and he again ran the fastest qualifying lap last week at Infineon Raceway, a road course in Sonoma, Calif.

After entering last month's all-star break 14th in the Sprint Cup points standings and without a top-five finish, Kahne now is ninth in the points heading into Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

It's a dramatic but welcome change for the 28-year-old Kahne, who won six races in 2006.

"Really, the last month has been great," Kahne said. "We were on a dry spell, hadn't won in a while, so to win the all-star race and then to win twice since then has been really good. It's exciting. Our team's doing a great job."

Kahne might not have been able to say that with confidence until recently.

Ray Evernham, previously the sole owner of Kahne's Evernham Motorsports team, sold a majority share of his team last year to George Gillett, owner of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens.

The new Gillett Evernham Motorsports, which also fields cars driven by Elliott Sadler and Patrick Carpentier, struggled during and after the change in ownership, with Kahne recording only one top-five finish last year and missing the 12-car, season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup.

"I definitely doubted some things and where they were headed and what was going to go on with the teams and the company," Kahne said. "I didn't doubt my driving or (team director) Kenny Francis or the people that work on our (cars). But, yeah, I doubted some of the things that were going on and wasn't sure what would happen.

"But it's all been great. The Gilletts have come in and really done a nice job. The more we work with them, the better we get. They're in it for the long run. They're in it to win races and win a championship, and hopefully we can do that someday."

It's a goal that seems more attainable now, Kahne admits, than it did at any point in the past year.

"It's just building back to where we needed to be," he said. "We started off good (this year), but we weren't as strong as we needed to be. We just kept building up and getting better and better, and finally it all came together at Charlotte. We all realized that we were pretty close. ...

"We definitely have hit on some things, and it shows winning races."