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DOVER — Kasey Kahne has become the perfect model of what NASCAR seeks in a driver. He’s mild-mannered, well-spoken and has a growing number of fans tracking his every move. Just catch his Allstate commercials for confirmation.
Kahne’s popularity has blossomed throughout his short, four-year career in Nextel Cup. That’s why a flock of about 30 fans descended upon Dover International Speedway’s ticket office Wednesday to catch a glimpse of the 27-year old from Enumclaw, Wash.
Kahne sold tickets and signed autographs to promote the Dodge Dealers 400 on Sept. 23 at the one-mile, high-banked oval. NASCAR will also hold the Busch East Series Sunoco 150 on Sept. 21 and the Busch’s RoadLoans.com 200 on Sept. 22 at Dover.
“I have a lot of Kahne stuff at home,” 35-year old Dover native Bill Gillespie said before Kahne made his appearance at the speedway. “I’m not a goo-goo, ga-ga kind of guy. But it should be fun.”
Before hitting the speedway, Kahne greeted fans at Dover Air Force Base and Dodge donated 3,000 tickets to the USO.
While the Chase for the Nextel Cup isn’t in Kahne’s near future, he has rekindled some of the success he enjoyed last season.
At Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks ago, Kahne earned his second pole position of the season and finished second. He carried that to California Sunday where Kahne started third and finished 10th.
Still, it hasn’t been the type of season Kahne wanted, considering he was in the Chase in 2006. But finishing strong is on his mind.
His 10th-place finish at California jumped him two spots in the standings to 21st as the circuit hits the final race of the regular season at Richmond on Saturday night.
The only hotter driver right now is Kurt Busch, who has two wins and four top-5 finishes in the past five races.
“It helps a ton,” Kahne said of his recent success. “It helps me a lot and the team has the same attitude. When things are negative and down, it’s easy to stay that way. But when you get a pole or a top 5, you don’t feel like it’s nearly as bad. Things can turn quick in racing.”
Results can also quickly change in the Chase, as Kahne learned last year. In the second race, which was at Dover, Kahne tangled with Tony Stewart in the opening laps and finished 28th.
It relegated him to Chase watcher instead of contender and he finished eighth in the point standings.
When asked if he had advice for those competing for the title, Kahne quipped, “Yeah, don’t have an early setback.”
Kahne hasn’t had any setbacks since Montreal Canadians owner George Gillett Jr. bought the team last month. The move allowed Ray Evernham, who was Jeff Gordon’s crew chief during his championship runs, to become more of a technician.
“Ray’s been able to probably put a little more time and effort into the competition side of things, and coming up with ideas and suggestions on what to do,” Kahne said. “That’s helping.”
If there’s anything playing in Kahne’s favor for the final leg, it’s that six of the final 11 events are Car of Tomorrow races. Kahne initially struggled with the COT — NASCAR’s new and safer ride that will be installed full time for 2008. But his program has improved immensely in recent weeks.
“After about a month ... the cars, you can barely drive them, you start to think it’s going to be a long season,” Kahne said. “But everything has worked out fine. I haven’t asked anyone to be changed on the team. They are the same guys that won six races last year.”
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