CONCORD, N.C. – Confident in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team to be a competitive force in 2016, Kasey Kahne is hoping for a season of improvement and is counting on several factors to play to his advantage this year.
Kahne acknowledged that 2015 did not pan out exactly as he and his team were hoping it would. He logged three top-five finishes and 10 top-10s but experienced his first season without a win since 2010.
“I would say the last two years haven’t gone the way we wanted them to go,” Kahne said, “so we’re working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Kahne and his team have spent ample time this offseason preparing for the start of what they hope to be a results-producing year. Entering his second season with crew chief Keith Rodden, the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet SS said that Rodden has been key in helping to get the team ready for the start of the season.
“Keith Rodden and what he’s doing with our team and how they’re preparing,” Kahne said, “everybody’s excited and ready to go and wanting to get back to the track. We have a strong team that’s looking forward to working together and enjoying it together.”
In addition to a determined team, another factor that Kahne believes will be an asset to him this year is the new rules package introduced by NASCAR for the Sprint Cup Series at all tracks except superspeedways. The package utilizes less downforce than in previous years, which Kahne said he prefers.
“I actually enjoy power and I enjoy lower downforce,” he explained, “so hopefully as a whole this new package is heading, to me, in the right direction and hopefully helps me with my performances a little bit as well.”
The package includes a 3.5-inch rear spoiler, a 0.25-inch front splitter leading edge and a 33-inch radiator pan. It is also designed to allow for Goodyear to develop track-specific tires to help complement the aerodynamics of the cars and create even better racing.
With 12 Cup seasons under his belt, including 17 wins, Kahne is excited for 2016 as an opportunity to improve and perform at the level he knows he can.
His main goal for this season? Speed.
“The things I look for the most this year is just having speed,” he said. “It’s all about being fast in practice, being fast in qualifying, being fast in the race and showing that speed every weekend. If we can do that, we’ll hit our goals, we’ll win races, we’ll be in the Chase, we’ll do the things that we want to do. The speed is what we’ve been lacking. It hasn’t really be anything else, so if we can get that speed back we’ll be in a really good spot.”