NASCAR: 2013 Championship Contenders Countdown — #1. Kasey Kahne

2012 Review:
Kasey Kahne's first season driving for Hendrick Motorsports was an absolute roller coaster ride.

It started off on the sour side, with six finishes of 14th or worse. Half of those were not even inside of the top 30. This left him 31st in the points standings after the opening six races of the season.

However, the finishes were not indicative of the speed the No.5 team possessed — Kahne recorded five top-ten starts including two poles during that stretch — and they would soon prove it.

Over the course of the next seven races Kahne would never finish worse than ninth, including a victory in the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte.

While the remainder of the year would be up-and-down as far as finishes go, he would record one more win at Loudon and secure one of the Wild Card positions in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Despite his poor start, Kahne still tied his career-best mark of 19 top-ten finishes and set new career highs in both average start (8.8) and average finish (13.1).

He ended up finishing fourth in the points standings.


2013 Preview:
This will not only be Kahne's second season with HMS, it will be his seventh straight year working with crew chief Kenny Francis.

The No.5 team will be looking to build on a strong finish to the season, having scored the fifth most points among all drivers during the Chase. They will also be hoping the team can avoid the poor luck that struck them at various times of the year, especially during the beginning stretch of the season.

Over the course of his career, Kahne has won 14 total races, 13 of which were earned working with Francis. Six of those, however, were all earned in 2006, meaning he's averaging only slightly over one win per season since.

A Sprint Cup champion has not won fewer than five races during his title campaign since Kurt Busch won three in 2004. That means Kahne will have to emulate the magic of that 2006 year.

But can he actually do it?...


2013 Prediction:
Unless you decided not to read the title or haven't been following my countdown until now, you already know what I think about the previous question.

I love the rapport between Kasey Kahne and Kenny Francis. Having someone you known a long time and can trust on top of the pit box can go a long way in a sport where chemistry between driver and crew chief is of he utmost importance.

I love that he's in his second year at Hendrick Motorsports. Theoretically, the bugs of moving to a new team will be worked out, and we'll finally get to see the true strength Kahne can show driving for what is arguably the strongest race team in NASCAR.

With that last statement, I don't need to repeat how much confidence I have in Hendrick equipment, but I guess I just did anyway.

The numbers of his past few seasons have been far from spectacular, to be sure. And if you continue to follow this blog for a while, you'll learn I'm one of the biggest stat nerds around.

So consider this a gut feeling. I'm calling for Kahne to have a breakout year, showcasing what I believe to be an underrated level of talent on the way to his first NASCAR championship.

Don't be surprised if his 2013 season is a near mirror image of Brad Keselowski's 2012 season. That's precisely how I see it playing out.

Minus him becoming a Twitter phenom, anyway.

And with that, the countdown is over. We'll revisit it later on in the year so I can pound my chest over what I predicted correctly — all while conveniently ignoring the myriad things I'll likely have gotten wrong.

Until then, enjoy the season everybody! It should be a heck of a ride.


J-Mac's 2013 Chase Drivers:
1. Kasey Kahne
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Kyle Busch
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Jimmie Johnson
6. Clint Bowyer
7. Jeff Gordon
8. Tony Stewart
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
11. Greg Biffle
12. Carl Edwards