Kasey Kahne 2010 Fantasy NASCAR Preview

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=kasey+kahne&iid=5852453″ src=”6/3/6/c/Heluva_Good_Sour_3817.jpg?adImageId=8924917&imageId=5852453″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /]Kasey Kahne

2009 Stats: Points Finish 10th, 2 Wins, 7 Top Fives, 14 Top Tens, Average Finish 15.2, Average Position 15.0, Laps Led 248, Driver Rating 87.8

2010 will be a big year for Kasey Kahne. His Dodge days are over and now RPM will be driving Fords in 2010. Another factor that will make 2010 a critical year for Kahne is his contract situation. Many times when drivers are in a contract year things either go really good for the driver or things go really, really bad. Do I know what way it will go? No I don’t, but as they say that’s why they run the races.

Strengths– Ever since Kasey Kahne started his cup career he’s been an elite intermediate track driver. If his car is set up right then Kahne is capable of going out and winning the race.

Weaknesses- I’m well aware that Kasey Kahne won at Infineon which is the tougher of the two road courses but I’m still not going to pick him at these tracks. Over the totality of his career his win is a distinct outlier.

Intermediate Track Grade- A-, Things will be slightly different for Kasey Kahne in 2010 on these tracks. Supposedly his cars will be set up the same and he’ll have a better engine package. Also with the RPM / Yates merger Kahne will have more information (setup, practice etc.) available to him. Look for Kahne to have his best races be on the 1.5 mile tracks where the highline around the track comes into play.

Flat Track Grade- B+, Kasey Kahne is at his best on the bigger flat tracks (Pocono & Indy). I would give him an A- at those tracks . At the smaller flat tracks I normally expect him to finish in the teens and I would give him a B for those venues.

Restrictor Plate Track Grade- B, Overall Kahne’s finishes at these unpredictable tracks is … unpredictable. He usually gets a good finish a these tracks once or twice a year. In his Dodge days he usually was at his best at Daytona where handling is very important. Last year he was a survivor at the fall Talladega race and finished 2nd.

Short Track Grade- B-, Kahne’s been pretty racy at Bristol since the track was multi-grooved. This helped make the track more to Kahne’s liking. When he doesn’t have problems he’s been successful at Richmond. I would highly recommend people avoid him at Martinsville. His last top ten at the oldest track on the circuit was way back in 2006.

Road Course Track Grade- B-, As I acknowledged earlier Kasey Kahne won at Infineon in 2009. He had a competitive car (8.4 Avg. running position), but I certainly don’t think it was the best. When I re-watched segments of the race from the ifantasyrace.com DVD library I discovered that he was the beneficiary of a timely caution. This is the nature of road courses and how they play out. What concerns me is his overall career at these tracks. His career average finish at Watkins Glen is 18th with no top tens and his career average finish at Infineon is 27th with only one top ten which occurred in 2009.

How to use Kasey Kahne from a fantasy racing perspective in 2010?

I would suggest fantasy racers really focus on using Kasey Kahne at the intermediate tracks and the big flat tracks. There’s no need to be creative when it comes to using Kahne.

Click HERE for more Kasey Kahne stats

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