CUP: Kahne Glad To Join Hendrick Motorsports

Sprint Cup

CUP: Kahne Glad To Join Hendrick Motorsports

Kasey Kahne, Kenny Francis expect to contend for championship at Hendrick...

Bob Pockrass | http://www.scenedaily.com | Posted January 16, 2012 Charlotte, NC

Kasey Kahne, (Left) driver of the No. 5 Farmer's Insurance Group, and Kenny Francis, (Right) crew chief stand in the garage area during Daytona Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Rick Hendrick thought Kasey Kahne possessed so much racing talent that he signed him in April 2010 to begin racing for him in 2012, with no sponsor for him and no team for Kahne to drive for in 2011.

Despite the uncertainty, Hendrick made the commitment to Kahne. He wanted the driver who had won 11 Cup races (he now has 12 career victories) and shown much promise.

Last week, Kahne completed his first full test with Hendrick Motorsports. Coming off a transitional year with Red Bull Racing, where he won one race but finished outside the Chase For The Sprint Cup for the sixth time in his eight-year Cup career, the 31-year-old Kahne knows this is his best opportunity.

It’s a great opportunity for sure, but there’s no guarantee of success. With just five wins in the last five years, does the former driver for Evernham Motorsports, Gillett Evernham Motorsports, Richard Petty Motorsports and Red Bull Racing automatically become a championship contender by joining Hendrick, which has won 10 titles in the last 17 years?

“I’ve always thought that if we do everything right and are consistent, that we could contend,” Kahne said following the test session Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. “To win it is another story. But contend at times, we’ve had good enough moments to contend. That’s the same thing here.

“I don’t think you can say because you’re here, now you can win a championship because there are so many little things that you have to do and you have to do as a team. So if we can put that full deal together, this is definitely a place that wins championships.”

To help put those things together, Kahne has a familiar face in crew chief Kenny Francis, whom he has been paired with since 2006.

Francis also hesitated from calling his team a championship contender right off the bat.

“It’s too soon to kind of say anything,” Francis said. “It’s going to take us some races to get used to things and understand the subtleties of these cars. The Hendrick chassis and bodies are a little different than what we had before. … It all should be good.

“At the same time we are trying to sort out new cars and equipment and figure out what we’re building new, what we’re keeping from last year and there’s some uncertainty and unknowns.”

Both somewhat soft-spoken, it would be out of their nature for Kahne and Francis to proclaim themselves championship contenders before the first race.

But it certainly has brought a new look to one of the strongest organizations in the garage.

“They're a great addition,” said Jeff Gordon, whose team works out of the same shop as Kahne’s. “I think they're a great package. They seem to really get along well and understand one another well. Kenny is a super smart guy.

“I think he's a great crew chief, and I think that Kasey is one of the top drivers in the series. … Kasey and I have been texting one another back and forth all last year. Every time that we were fast in qualifying or won a race, he was texting me, and I kept telling him, we're just getting things ready for when you come.”

It’s obviously a new look for Kahne, who tested a fuel injection car with Hendrick last October but was with his new crew for the first time last week at Daytona.

The crew has some familiar faces. Francis brought three crewmen with him, including car chief Todd Devnich, engineer Keith Rodden and interior specialist John Oehler. The rest of the team were with Hendrick last year.

“We were there with the guys [last October], but it still felt like I was not with team Hendrick,” Kahne said. “This time I feel like I’m part of the team. It was actually pretty cool.

“It was pretty fun to be part of that team for sure. There are a lot of really good people that have put a huge effort into it. To be able to talk to Jeff all the time is pretty neat.”

After one weekend, Kahne could see what makes Hendrick so strong, even coming off a “down” year where no driver finished in the top five. Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson finished sixth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seventh and Gordon eighth in the standings.

“Preparation is key and they have that [at Hendrick],” Kahne said. “People is key and they have that. And we have an owner that wants to see his four cars run up front very single race and it’s pretty awesome to have that. … We have everything we need.

“That’s obvious with the way that Jimmie and Jeff and Dale run.”

The organization is set up somewhat differently than others that they have worked for, and Francis said he will need to get used to the “substantially different” organizational structure that Hendrick has with a lot more people and responsibilities divided in different ways.

Kasey Kahne, (Left) driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, talks with Jeff Gordon, (Right) driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, during Daytona Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

But on the track, the test didn’t go much different than others.

“It’s a new group of guys we’ve got on our team working together for the first time,” Francis said. “We’re happy with the way everything went.”

At the test, it was an opportunity for Kahne and Francis to learn more about the Hendrick cars.

“It definitely takes time because it's all different,” Kahne said after one day of testing. “The way they build the parts and pieces and the way that feels to me and the way I relay that to Kenny, that's something that takes time, and hopefully it doesn't take us too long.

“But there will definitely be some things that will confuse me at times for sure.”

Kahne will take that confusion over being with teams in a constant state of transition. After driving for Ray Evernham for four years, Evernham sold the majority of his team to George Gillett in mid-2007, and then Gillett merged with Yates Racing and then Richard Petty Motorsports. Kahne’s one year at Red Bull was the last year for that team, which has been shut down.

“The biggest thing is the stability and knowing that I have four years here where I just need to make the best out of it,” Kahne said. “I need to put all the effort that I have into it. It could be my best four years ever.”

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