The Downfall of Kasey Kahne

[Music] [Applause] [Music] in order to preserve some of my most anticipated projects I decided why not knock out a video that should have been produced six months ago ever since his retirement announcement I've wanted to make a video on case he came the question I asked myself however was what could I talk about now while he's underachieved on the racetrack I don't consider kasey kahne a misfortunate legacy some of the instances of mediocrity were more on the team and there isn't a compelling failure I can pin on to the Washington driver so instead we are going to go over the downfall and the decline in performance of Kasey Kahne as after all he was considered one of NASCAR's most promising stars right alongside Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards during the mid-2000s there's a lot of material to go over so it's time for today's featured presentation so anyways Kasey canes rise to fame started on dirt as he drove in the USAC and the world about was at the start of the 21st century his major accomplishment was the 2000 USAC national championship as Kasey Kahne was able to win six races driving for Steve Lewis racing his first NASCAR sting took place driving for Robert Yates racing piloting the number 98 channellock Ford in 20 grand national series events during those races his statistics were fairly mediocre as the only earned 1 top-ten finish at the Michigan race and had an average finish of twenty two point nine not very good but it's still fairly early in his career we'll have to see what a full campaign can do to bolster his career luckily he got that prime chance in 2003 with Akins Motorsports driving the number 38 great clips Ford while he didn't cut through the competition Kasey Kahne was able to consistently put together results earning four top fives 14 top-ten finishes and he had an average finish of 15 point one in addition during the grand national season finale at homestead-miami kasey kahne was able to win his first career nascar-sanctioned race leading 29 laps to finish ahead of future NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr so after that victory Kasey Kahne was ready to go to the NASCAR Cup Series as he signed with Evernham Motorsports to replace Bill Elliott in the team's number nine car to move ignited some legal issues as Kahne broke a contract with Ford by moving to an ever ham Dodge luckily the two sides agreed to settle and Kasey Kahne was ready for the big leagues while some of the naysayers debated whether he was rushed up too quickly Kasey Kahne once he hit the Cup Series pavement he proved them all wrong and nearly took the circuit by storm at Rockingham as he finished second to defending champion Matt Kenseth while he didn't earn a win during that campaign he earned an impressive 13 top fives including five runner-up finishes it was certainly one of the better rookie performances in recent memory as you look at drivers today such as Erik Jones Daniel Suarez William Byron and Bubba Wallace they weren't even close to visiting Victory Lane meanwhile Kasey Kahne netted 13 top fives and ultimately Kasey Kahne claimed the 2004 rookie title after finishing 13th in the final standings beating out NASCAR champions Brian Vickers and Brendan Gaughan to claim the honor things were looking promising for Ray Evernham Sheung Starr and he should pick up right where he left off in 2005 unfortunately the sophomore slump hit Kasey Kahne and the nine team horribly in 2005 as the red Dodge only netted five top fives eight top-ten finishes and a whopping nine dnf'd due to crashes and mechanical issues if there was one positive the red number nine dodge finally broke through at Richmond as Kasey Kahne his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory in late 2005 Ray Evernham decided to swap the race teams of Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield as Kasey Kahne got the successful number 19 team and Jeremy Mayfield got the number 9 team that struggled horribly ironically the 2006 campaign was a breakout season behind the wheel for Kasey Kahne as he kicked off the season by netting his second career win early in the season at Atlanta from that point the nine team went on to win the Texas race three weeks later and swept the Lowe's Motor Speedway that season leading 292 laps combined in those events in addition he performed well at the fast two-mile Speedway's and he won the spring race at Michigan and earned a win under the lights at the Auto Club Speedway his impressive season earned him a spot in the 2006 chase as he wrapped up the season eighth in points and if you take the inconsistencies of the first three chase races out of the equation I think Kasey Kahne would have competed for the championship and he would have been in the mix with Jimmie Johnson under the lights at Homestead overall this was a season that gave Kasey Kahne his star power he was able to back up the hype with success on the racetrack and as long as Ray Abraham's team continues to develop and build towards the future he will surely get his fair share at the NASCAR Cup Series trophy sooner than later that is until the organization was plagued by mediocrity controversies galore and a struggling economy which caused Ray Evernham to merge his operation with Richard Petty by 2009 during that time frame Kasey Kane's performance wasn't bad but the 19 was a middling race team struck in neutral only earning two wins and one chase birth from 2007 to 2009 things did not get any better for Kasey Kahne and Kenny Prince's as the switch to Ford did not help the 19 become number one in 31 races with rpm during the 2010 campaign Casey only finished top ten nine times and was ranked 21st after the Bank of America 500 knowing this organization was a handshake away from death kasey kahne announced early in the season his departure from the 19 and pursued a fresh start elsewhere in the nascar garage as a result on April 13 2010 Kasey Kahne signed the biggest contract of his NASCAR career as starting in 2012 he would drive the number five Farmers Insurance Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and joined champions Jeff Gordon Jimmie Johnson and the sport's most popular driver Dale Earnhardt jr. at Rick Hendricks for car operation finally Kasey Kahne would have a so a team to build around and develop on the racetrack and he can start winning races and competing for titles for years to come in fact Rick Hendrick even called him a future champion in the sport of NASCAR the hype was up to oblivion and let's see if he can finally break through as a top tier driver coming off a consistent campaign with Red Bull Racing Kasey Kahne debuted season with HMS was solid to say the least while the five team led by Kenny Francis experienced growing pains to start the season Kasey Kahne along with Hendrick Motorsports as an organization wet on a tear during the summer Kasey was able to claim victory at the Charlotte 600 and again at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway as during the 2012 chase for the Cup Kasey Kahne was absolutely rock-solid earning five top fives six top-ten finishes and he placed a career-high fourth place in the final standings unfortunately the next two campaigns under Kenny Francis were fairly mediocre and the five team remained in neutral on the race track while 2013 saw Kasey Kahne earned two wins including a clutch win against teammate Jeff Gordon the five team had slew of inconsistencies during the playoffs and finished 12th out of the 13 chase contenders the 2014 campaign was even more of a struggle as Kasey Kahne was in a must-win scenario just to make the 16 driver chase meanwhile his other three teammates combined to win nine races and were title favorites for this new knockout format ultimately clutch Kasey was able to fend off Matt Kenseth and avoided the embarrassment of being the only Hendrick Motorsports team to miss the chase while Kasey Kahne went on to advance to the round of 12 the 2014 campaign was a huge disappointment as the five team only netted three top fives all season long meanwhile all three of his fellow teammates netted four wins each yeah there's a lot of work that needs to be done this offseason so without a doubt changes needed to be made to this five team to bolster the performance in the long run crew chief Kenny Francis was released from Hendrick which meant the organization had to had crew chief vacancies entering the 2015 season Dale jr. was paired up with Greg Ives as he was promoted to the Cup Series after winning the 2014 Grand National Championship with chase Elliott meanwhile Casey Cain's new crew chief would be none other than Keith rod and yeah are you serious about this decision I mean his only accomplishment on top of the pit box was an all-star race victory in 2014 besides that triumph Keith rotten and Jamie McMurray had largely mediocre statistics and couldn't improve on the performance from the season prior in addition let's go back to 2007 where Keith rotten was interm crew chief for Casey Kahne his best finish during that time frame was a 19th place at Bristol with two finishes outside the top 30 in three races now while the move seems sketchy who knows after all Chip Ganassi is an organization piggybacking off of Kyle Larson's Talent this is henrik motorsports we're talking about and the faster cars and equipment along with the fresh start with Keith rotten could lead to Victory Lane for the historic five team during the first 16 races of 2015 Wow my judgment was totally wrong as Keith rotten and Kasey Kahne had a consistent campaign brewing forward the 5 team netted two top fives six top-10 finishes and entered Daytona a solid eighth place in the points standings things are looking strong just 10 races before the chase with that said the five team proceeds to implode faster than Daytona's backstretch grant stands and goes through a brutal summer slump all my goodness where do I start with this implosion from Daytona to Bristol Kasey Kahne only netted one top 15 five finishes 20th or worse and went from a comfortable position in the chase to 17th on the grid the first driver below the cut line this race he never recovers from the implosion and Kasey Kahne misses the chase for the first time since joining HMS to make matters worse he got beat out by two mediocre veterans who hadn't made a postseason prior to 2015 and quit Boyer driving for a team plagued by spending and other financial ruin seriously so yeah the 2015 season brought nothing good for Kasey Cain's career unfortunately over the next two seasons the five team got progressively worse and worse as for the second season in a row Kasey Kahne missed the playoffs after coming shorter Richmond in addition he failed to lead a laugh all season long and considering that he is driving for a powerhouse team and Hendrick Motorsports that is an embarrassing feat to accomplish now despite his victorious win at Indianapolis and ending up making the playoffs the entire 2017 season was a train wreck for the farmers team I remember back to the July New Hampshire race as an example as kasey kahne had a fast car and finished a solid sixth place during stage one once they lost their track position however the five car was completely stuck in neutral and couldn't even advance from the 31st position he goes a lap down in stage two and finishes outside the top 25 nothing was mentioned of damage or mechanical troubles and it appeared that the car was just plain garbage even during the playoffs the team had performance issues as Kasey Kahne and Keith rod and finished and abysmal 21st place at Chicagoland as a result Keith rotten was finally relieved of had crew chiefing duties and veteran Darian Grubb took the reins unfortunately the crew chief change was not a game changer and Kasey Kahne was eliminated from his final nascar playoffs in the round of 16 after it was announced that summer that Kasey Kahne was released from his contract his tenure at Hendrick Motorsports was officially over he got another gig with Levine family racing but the results just weren't the same his fourth place finish at Daytona in July was his only top ten of the campaign and he was on average a 26th place car most weekends the 2018 southern 500 was an interesting event for Kasey Kahne as he was sporting a classic throwback to his widely successful 2006 design after finishing 24th after a demanding 500 miles it was announced the next week that Kasey was experiencing health issues inside the race car more specifically dehydration during races this came weeks after Kasey Kahne announced his retirement from NASCAR after 2018 and now while I don't want to say this is the exact reason while he retired it is a good chance that this was some of the motivation behind his decision while Kasey Kahne was hoping to return to the 95 and send off his career in style he was unfortunately never cleared by doctors to race so after 18 career wins including three Charlotte 600 victories Casey Cain's NASCAR career was over so there you have it the downfall of Kasey Kahne now in the long run I pinpointed a few issues that played the Enuma Washington's driver during his career and prevented him from truly breaking out obviously you have the state of Evernham Motorsports at the time as they were in a decline performance wise just as Kasey Kahne was performing on the track the combination of a mediocre crew chief with the declining 5 car and Hendrick Motorsports ultimately was not the best decision and currently William Byron and Chad canals are still rebuilding the race team - even consistent top 15 results and finally Casey Cain's health issues played a big role during his decline in NASCAR and why he chose to retire in 2018 in my opinion had dehydration not play Kasey Kahne he would have likely taken the stewart-haas number 41 ride that was offered to him and he would still be competing at NASCAR's top level it's unfortunate because Kasey Kahne was a well-respected driver on the racetrack and it's a shame he had to cut his NASCAR career short and bid his fans and uncharacteristic farewell I remember one Christmas asking for a Kasey Kahne 124 winner's circle diecast and a hauler and as a five-year-old I am unsure the reasoning behind asking Santa for these items whether it was bandwagoning off cane or just simply asking for another toy to bang through a wall what I do know is most certainly Kasey Kahne was a good NASCAR driver on the track and while he came up short of becoming a legend he had some great moments to look back on and to build his legacy into the future hopefully Kasey Kahne can win races and have fun on dirt and who knows maybe I'll catch him in st. Louis boy the gateway dirt Nationals one day so anyways this is NRF signing out and just remember life's a beach and then you drive [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: NRF Productions

Views: 303,861

Keywords: Kasey Kahne, Downfall, Hendrick Motorsports, Rick Hendrick, Evernham Motorsports, Ray Evernham, NASCAR, NRF, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, 2017 Brickyard 400, Leavine Family Racing, Kasey Kahne 2006, Red Bull Racing, Coca Cola 600, 2008 NASCAR All Star Race, Jeremy Mayfield, 2003 Ford 300, Keith Rodden, Darian Grubb, Kenny Francis

Id: RpewNTaNryA

Length: 17min 57sec (1077 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 09 2019