Post by dalejrfan on Jan 11, 2006 23:40:53 GMT -5
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After three days of Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona, Kasey Kahne might not be sure the 2006 Dodge will be appreciably better than the '05 Charger -- but at least he's comfortable with his surroundings.
Kahne, the 2004 Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year, has a total of one race with his new crew chief -- or "team director" in the parlance of Evernham Motorsports -- but he's got a lot of enthusiasm and resolve for the coming season.
Despite his first career Cup victory at Richmond last spring, Kahne had a dismal 2005 on his way to finishing 23rd in the standings.
But while at Daytona, Kahne said he didn't feel like his former crew chief, Tommy Baldwin, had lost any of his ability, offering instead that he was perhaps a victim of owner Ray Evernham's system, as well as the challenges every Dodge team faced with the 2005 Charger.
"I think there were some different things," Kahne said of his departed team boss, Baldwin. "One thing, we lost some things we had the year before with the balance of the racecar."
Kahne had four Bud Poles and five second-place finishes in his rookie season, and, despite the win, was nowhere near that performance level in 2005.
"When you run better, everything is better and all the people are happier," Kahne said. "There were some things that Tommy wasn't getting to do that he was the year before.
There were some things with the team structure, the way Ray wanted to structure the team [and] Tommy didn't really like it as much, but that's the way it was going to be, so he needed to either like it or figure out a different position.
"It kind of got on Tommy and it kind of got on Ray and our engineers. We went through a couple of different engineers because people just weren't happy. The first year everybody was happy -- that was the biggest thing.
"People weren't happy at different races, and when that starts happening your performance goes down [because] all the people on the team aren't as happy."
Prior to the 2005 Homestead finale, Evernham switched the team management of Kahne and teammate Jeremy Mayfield, with Francis leading Kahne's team, starting with that race and continuing into this season.
"With what Ray's done, I think it's definitely going to help," Kahne said. "So far, I'm excited with the guys I have. We get along good, and working with Kenny Francis has been good.
"Our team is great. It's pretty much Jeremy's team from last year with a couple more people added in. They've made the Chase the past two years [so] I feel like we can do a lot with that.
"It's a little confusing and it keeps changing with the roles. Some people have left, and we've got some new people, too. Ray keeps looking for people who want to make a commitment, and that's what they want to focus on.
"We've got a great team. The 19's [Mayfield] got a great team and the 10 [Scott Riggs] is building a good team. It should be fun to work with both of those guys all year; Scott and Jeremy [and] I look forward to working with them."
Kahne, the 2004 Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year, has a total of one race with his new crew chief -- or "team director" in the parlance of Evernham Motorsports -- but he's got a lot of enthusiasm and resolve for the coming season.
Despite his first career Cup victory at Richmond last spring, Kahne had a dismal 2005 on his way to finishing 23rd in the standings.
But while at Daytona, Kahne said he didn't feel like his former crew chief, Tommy Baldwin, had lost any of his ability, offering instead that he was perhaps a victim of owner Ray Evernham's system, as well as the challenges every Dodge team faced with the 2005 Charger.
"I think there were some different things," Kahne said of his departed team boss, Baldwin. "One thing, we lost some things we had the year before with the balance of the racecar."
Kahne had four Bud Poles and five second-place finishes in his rookie season, and, despite the win, was nowhere near that performance level in 2005.
"When you run better, everything is better and all the people are happier," Kahne said. "There were some things that Tommy wasn't getting to do that he was the year before.
There were some things with the team structure, the way Ray wanted to structure the team [and] Tommy didn't really like it as much, but that's the way it was going to be, so he needed to either like it or figure out a different position.
"It kind of got on Tommy and it kind of got on Ray and our engineers. We went through a couple of different engineers because people just weren't happy. The first year everybody was happy -- that was the biggest thing.
"People weren't happy at different races, and when that starts happening your performance goes down [because] all the people on the team aren't as happy."
Prior to the 2005 Homestead finale, Evernham switched the team management of Kahne and teammate Jeremy Mayfield, with Francis leading Kahne's team, starting with that race and continuing into this season.
"With what Ray's done, I think it's definitely going to help," Kahne said. "So far, I'm excited with the guys I have. We get along good, and working with Kenny Francis has been good.
"Our team is great. It's pretty much Jeremy's team from last year with a couple more people added in. They've made the Chase the past two years [so] I feel like we can do a lot with that.
"It's a little confusing and it keeps changing with the roles. Some people have left, and we've got some new people, too. Ray keeps looking for people who want to make a commitment, and that's what they want to focus on.
"We've got a great team. The 19's [Mayfield] got a great team and the 10 [Scott Riggs] is building a good team. It should be fun to work with both of those guys all year; Scott and Jeremy [and] I look forward to working with them."