Kasey Kahne

(Cornelius, N.C. November 27, 2007) – Kasey Kahne’s offseason was delayed by a week as he made the trek out west to compete in the 67th running of the USAC sanctioned Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale Speedway. Driving the No. 67 Seymour Paint car fielded by Kasey Kahne Racing, Kahne overcame trouble in qualifying to finish second in the Thanksgiving tradition.

After some unexpected problems in qualifying, Kahne raced his way into the 35-car field via the semi-main, also known as the “last chance race”. Kahne started the 100-lap feature in 17th place and found his way into the top five on lap 78. He picked up fourth position on lap 84 and worked his way into third five laps later. With three laps to go, Kahne took over the second position and was closing on leader Dave Darland. Despite having a faster car, Kahne ran out of time and out of laps before he was able to catch Darland. In his first National Midgets race in more than four years, Kahne brought home the No. 67 Seymour Paint car in second place.

“It has been a couple years since I’ve raced a USAC Sprint Car at Irwindale Speedway, so I was really looking forward to driving the Seymour Paint car here tonight,” said Kahne. “It just took us a long time to get to the front. The Seymour Paint car was really fast tonight, and if we could have caught just one more yellow flag, we could have had a shot at it.”

Kahne began racing sprint cars in his home state of Washington at the age of 17. In 1998 he gained the attention of the sprint car world by finishing fifth in the “Turkey Night” classic at Bakersfield, California, and earned the Don Basile Rookie of the Race honors. In 2000 Kahne began driving for famed USAC team owner Steve Lewis, who has also employed Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. Kahne was named the USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year and captured both the USAC Midget Series Champion and Driver of the Year honors in his first season. Kahne went on to capture 11 USAC National Midget feature victories, including the 4-Crown Nationals (2000), Belleville Midget Nationals (2000, 2001), and the Night Before the 500 (2000, 2001).