Kasey Kahne is 38th in the Nextel Cup Series standings. Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Last Lap: Kahne is able

LAS VEGAS -- Robin Leach -- the intolerably annoying host of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous that makes Fran Drescher sound like Ol' Blue Eyes -- was hired by Las Vegas Motor Speedway to host Nextel Cup drivers introductions for the UAW DaimlerChrysler 400 on Sunday.

	MARTY SMITH •   E-mail Marty •   Opinion Archive •   Store: 'I Agree With Marty' tee

When it came time for Leach to introduce seventh-place starter Kasey Kahne, he butchered Kahne's surname, pronouncing it "con" rather than "cane."

It's been that kind of year for the sophomore star.

Kahne left Daytona with a 22nd-place finish, which was somewhat disappointing considering the full-court press Evernham Motorsports put on their speedway program during the offseason. They'd hoped hiring Slugger Labbe and Chris Andrews would produce cars capable of dethroning Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the plate-racing kingdom.

Then, Fontana and Vegas yielded frustrating self-induced accidents, prompting the even-keel Kahne to lash out a bit.

"We've got to figure out how to get our Dodges better than this before Atlanta, or we'll have another big wreck there," he said. "I'm discouraged today, discouraged with the first three races. This isn't the way we wanted to start the season."

Certainly not. He's in trouble. Rebounding is possible, but won't be easy, not the way Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch are running.

But it could be worse. At least he's in good company:

Some of NASCAR's best teams are right there with him.

And Leach mispronounced Jesus' name, too.

After getting out of the blocks with a bang last season, has Kasey Kahne fallen prey to bad luck or a sophomore slump (i.e. he still has a lot to learn)?

Both. He's had tough luck, but there's plenty yet to learn, as well. Evernham Motorsports is behind the lofty curve set by Hendrick and Roush with the new aerodynamic package. Kahne said himself his cars are "terrible," and that his team must improve in short order.

But this is Ray Evernham, folks. And he has Tommy Baldwin. And Labbe and Andrews and tons of Dodge loot.

Don't cry for them. They'll figure it out, and Kahne will make the Chase.

Johnson on his first career Las Vegas win Johnson cruises to his first victory of 2005 Kyle and Kurt Busch crack the top three Gordon finishes fourth despite an altercation Kahne's day takes a turn for the worse Junior and Brian Vickers collide in the early laps Dale Jr. apologizes to Vickers after the wreck Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

AnyOneBut8: I think that this new spoiler and the whole aero system is not working on many of the Dodges -- Ryan Newman (as usual) being the only major exception.

I think that the new body is going to continue to cause issues. Kahne is a talented driver, but I feel as though there may be too much on his plate. Either he focuses on winning races or getting into the Chase, because you're either racing for points or to win under this new system.

There is yet another learning curve thrown at the whole Evernham group, and with the talent that they recruited over the offseason, they will overcome this learning curve. Will it be in time to get Kasey into the Chase? Perhaps not, but if he at least wins a few races, you cannot call the season all for naught.

Shaquille O'Neal speaks for the masses, here. The vast majority of responders cited the new aerodynamic configuration as the biggest contributor to Kahne's struggles. I agree wholeheartedly. The kid didn't forget how to turn left overnight.

His new Dodge Charger is not the Dodge Intrepid he drove in 2004. The spoiler is shorter. The tires are softer. The gearing is different. His team hasn't yet found the proper balance on the new ride.

Many drivers have, to date, voiced displeasure with an inability to race side-by-side. Following a sixth-place finish at Fontana, Kevin Harvick told me simply, "the racing sucks."

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. agreed with him.

"I agree with Kevin," Junior said when informed of Harvick's comment. "I don't think it makes any sense to take it off and say that's going to make it better running side-by-side. Somebody's got to wake up here, the light bulb's got to come and they've got to figure this s--- out.

"Taking the spoilers off is going to make it more difficult to drive. Softer tires give us more grip, so it hauls ass. Then it falls off. That's OK. That's not a bad deal. We need some more downforce."

Then there's the subject of this column:

"The spoilers don't help. The tires don't help. What they have going, I don't think it helps the racing at all," Kahne said Sunday. "But there's cars making it work, and we haven't found out how to make it work yet."

CptCaveman: The answer is simple. Kahne is struggling because my friend picked him for his ultimate fantasy racing team. He jinxed him. For the record, Matt Kenseth is also on his team.

I'll buy that, Teen Angel. I've experienced it myself. Last year I included McMurray on my roster often, only to see him run well and fall victim to an accident or blown engine. Next thing you know, as soon as I leave him off my team, he goes and reels off three top-fives and eight top-10s in the final 10 races of the season.

2Quick: I don't think that Kasey has all that much left to learn, I just think the good ol' sophomore slump has returned and is taking vengeance on Kasey. Look at where he was running the last two races when he wrecked, it's not as if the cars are running slow or lack of driver effort and knowledge, he's been right in the middle of things in the top five, top ten.

I strongly believe that the curse that plagued so many sophomore drivers, before Tony Stewart somehow managed to break it, is back.

I disagree, Derek Jeter, because Kahne looked me square in the eye and said it himself:

"At Fontana, we weren't very good at all," he said. "And here (at Vegas) we were just terrible."

	Credit: Chris Stanford/Getty Images
	Inside the Numbers Kasey Kahne's first three races Race 2004 finish 2005 finish Daytona 41 22 Race 2 * 2 40 Las Vegas 2 38 * -- In 2004, the second race of the season was at Rockingham. In 2005, the second race of the season was at Fontana.

mytmunch3: Well, it is easy to see where the priorities lie on this year's "Last Lap Column" topics. I don't think we have had a single topic that WASN'T about making the chase, or Kasey Kahne.

If I was the kid, my confidence would be shot, temper would be high, and as things are going right now, I just might spin an ill-handling car (like jr. did in Bristol) because I felt like it.

However, you don't see him out there doing that. Instead the kid pushes his team and car to the limit because he knows he can. Come on, the kid is a phenom. He isn't in a slump, nor is he just having bad luck. He is just pushing too hard right now to break through with a win.

All the great drivers have had points in their careers where misfortune hit them and did so frequently. He will recover in short time. By the way, why are we not discussing the penalties that should be assessed for deliberate cheating?

So let me get this straight, Connie Agra... It's NASCAR.COM's fault that Kasey Kahne is 38th in points? And I thought the France/Helton/Darby three-headed monster called all the shots.

Anyway, about great drivers having slumps. Some of the sport's most accomplished drivers are currently mired in aerodynamic/bad luck purgatory, right alongside young Mr. Kahne: Ricky Rudd, Bobby Labonte, Kenseth, Earnhardt and Jeremy Mayfield.

None are in the top 25. All are at least 239 points behind Johnson, whose consistency makes their chance of rebounding akin to that of Kirstie Alley's career. She's succeeding. Maybe they will, too.

Along those same lines:

9Fan9: Some people forget that in Jeff Gordon's rookie season he got good numbers too, finished second a couple of times, but the glaring stat was tons of DNFs. Kasey had a few DNFs too.

Now in the sophomore year for Gordon, while he did post a good season with wins, he struggled a lot too. Remember, he had some seven DNFs. Kasey will be fine.

Gordon actually had 10 DNFs in 31 starts as a soph, Holly Robinson Peete, a fact that is greatly overshadowed in the annals of NASCAR history by the fact that he also won two of the biggest races of the season --- the Coca-Cola 600 and inaugural Brickyard 400.

Gordon rebounded to finish eighth in the point standings. Seventy-two percent of the 2005 season will be complete following the 26th race at Richmond. Seventy-two percent of the way into the '94 campaign -- following race 22 of 31 -- Gordon ranked ninth overall.

shlong1986: Maybe he's in a slump, or maybe he's a victim of a curse --- the commercial curse. Junior has already fallen into the same path as his partner this year, Waltrip. They are both in every other commercial, and look at their luck thus far. I think the best thing for Kasey to do is to ask Mountain Dew to take their commercial off the air.

Yet another fan disillusioned by the over-commercialization of NASCAR, albeit the one with the absolute worst screen name of all time.

20isSmokin: Kasey's style is to come off the corners hard. In fact, he's pretty tough on tires overall. With the shorter spoiler, he's got to learn to feather the pedal more. Yesterday he was loose off, and he should have stayed out of the pedal for a tick longer.

Much fuss is made about the open-wheel guys having an edge in saving a slide, but this package just does not settle down as quick as it used to, so chalk it up to inexperience.

He'll be fine in time, but he has to tone down the aggressive cornering and maybe change his mid-corner approach to set up the exit more smoothly. And finally, patience. Take advantage of the caution, don't be the caution.

Either Danny Lasoski is reading my message board or this guy spends WAY too much time racing online.

	KASEY KAHNE This time last year, Kasey Kahne was on top of the world. Now, he's just trying to finish races.  •   Complete story,  click here •   Driver Page •   2005 Stats •   Store: Kasey Kahne gear!

In all seriousness, he's absolutely right. Drivers simply can't drive their cars this year the way they did last season. The shorter spoiler means a less stable race car that has looser handling tendencies, so the driver must adjust his approach accordingly.

Then there's the softer tire. This season's tires fall off much quicker than last season's did, which is one reason I'm so impressed with Ryan Newman this year.

I thought he'd struggle terribly with tire wear on the right front because he drives a car so deep in the corner. Nobody drives a car harder than Newman does, but he's done a great job adjusting to the softer compound.

DanM34: What he has fallen prey to is a BAD BARBER! What is with that hairdo? I think that hair is getting in his field of vision and causing him to make mistakes, not to mention it holds in heat like that Dow Corning R-30 house insulation. He should walk over to Mark Martin's pit and ask to get the name of his barber!

Dan Marino should have more sympathy for a guy with wily locks. He rocked the perm-mullet in the mid-80s, after all.

08101990: I believe that Kasey Kahne is running as good just as last year, but he hasn't got used to the new spoiler changes because of the two crashes by himself in Fontana and Las Vegas.

Also, the pressure from last year's great season has him really trying to meet expectations. I think once he figures the changes to the spoiler, then he will become the driver he was last year.

Agreed, Dylan McKay. Many responses included, in some shape or form, a comment about how disadvantaged Dodge drivers were in having to deal with a new make, as well as NASCAR's implemented alterations. I don't see the rationale, there.

Look at the top 20 teams in Nextel Cup Series point standings:

Dodge has seven, Chevy has seven, Ford has six. Pretty even if you ask me. Now focus in further, on just the top 10. Chevrolet has four. Ford has four. Dodge has two, both with Penske Racing South.

And the top five? Two Hendrick Chevrolets and three Roush Fords.

Oh, and, how convenient, look who's gone to Victory Lane in the first three races. It's Hendrick vs. Roush right now.

"To start off this year with (Jeff) Gordon in Victory Lane and (Greg) Biffle and now (Jimmie) Johnson -- with us having three top fives -- you could say that Hendrick and Roush definitely have a distinct advantage over the other groups," Kurt Busch said Sunday following his third consecutive top-five finish to start the season.

"But I saw Penske out there today and they were very competitive. Tony Stewart was lingering around. I see him making strides, so the Gibbs cars will be there. Ganassi is gonna hit on it.

"I think the tires -- if you can remember back to 2001 -- we had a big tire change and there wasn't a single Roush car that won a race that year. So this year with the tires, they just have matched up with our cars and the Hendrick cars and away we go.

"I know the other teams will definitely be working overtime to catch us, whereas we might get stalled out with the knowledge we have right now."

See, there's hope. Kahne's behind, but by no means is he alone.