Saturday, January 09, 2016

2016 Fantasy Nascar Preview: Kasey Kahne

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Kasey Kahne have not performed very well in his last two seasons in the cup series with HMS and the fact that he have not gotten more criticism amazes me! When looking at his numbers, I am not very impressed with a driver of his level of equipment. He not very talent behind the wheel, so it prevents him from much fantasy upside when his car isn't performing up to his standards. I consider him the most inconsistent driver in the series and I mean that. If you use Kasey enough in fantasy racing, then you will eventually burn you!

Intermediate racetracks will be a major strength for Kahne in 2016. This is a type racetrack where HMS will have an horsepower advantage over majority of the field, so by default Kahne automatically have advantage over most of the guys he'll be racing. I would expect him to run in the low to mid teens a lot and sometimes challenge for top 10 finishes. Anything beyond that is probably asking for above average weekend.  His best intermediate racetracks are probably Atlanta, Las Vegas and Charlotte. Charlotte is definitely one of his stronger tracks, but feel like over the past few seasons he have fallen off. In 24 career starts, he have managed 12.1 average finish with 4 wins and 13 Top 10 finishes. The last few seasons been tougher on him. Over the past two seasons, he have only one top 10 finish. On the plus side, he also have 3 top 15 finishes in that span. So not like he been really terrible or anything, just not up to what we expect out of him at Charlotte. Atlanta have been a decent track for him from a career point of view. With 19 Career starts, he have managed 3 wins, 7 top 5s and 10 Top 20s finishes. The first thing that jumps out about those stats? He's either top 5 or bust at Atlanta. Only 3-non Top 5 finishes when he finishes inside the top 20. Last spring, he was very strong and was top 5 good. Until he was penalized with less than 40 laps to go. He never recovered and finished 14th. In his previous three starts, he have finishes of 1st, 36rd and 23rd. Hard to figure this guy out! The last track I want to look at is Las Vegas among the intermediate racetracks. Most recently I would consider this his best racetrack on the schedule. Last season he was strong and probably had the 2nd best car in the race. Until he and Edwards made heavy contact with each other on a restart. He didn't have to go to the garage, but his car never performed like before and finished 17th. Prior to that 17th place finish, he had finishes of 8th, 2nd and 19th. In half of his starts (12), he have finished inside the top 10. He also have finished 10 of 12 races inside the top 20.

Short flat racetracks will be a decent spot for Kasey. At both short flat racetracks of Phoenix and New Hampshire, he have ran fairly well. However I wouldn't say it been great. It been Kasey Kahne-like though. Over the past two seasons at Phoenix, he have finishes of 9th, 19th, 23rd and 11th. In 3 of those races, he have supported above 14.0 average running position and 85.0 driver rating. So it is not like he have lucked into those finishes at New Hampshire. He just been inconsistent with his finishes since finishing 1st and 5th in his debut in 2012 with HMS. He haven't been quite as good at Phoenix in my opinion. Over the past two seasons, he have managed finishes of 26th, 4th, 21st and 11th. Since joining HMS in 2012, he have struggled at Phoenix. In 8 races, he have only 3 Top 10 finishes and they all have ended inside the top 4. In 4 of the other 5 races, he have finished 19th or worse. Once again his inconsistent kills his fantasy value. At short flat racetracks, I think he will be nothing more than a mid to high teen driver. If he is lucky, then he will contend for a low teen finish.

In large flat racetracks, he will be inconsistent at. However he will have the horsepower advantage over most of the drivers he will be racing. He been stronger at Indy than Pocono. Over the past two seasons, he have finishes of 24th and 6th. Last season he struggled and finished 24th. He was never really any good. Prior to that 24th place finish, he had finishes of 6th, 3rd and 12th since joining HMS in 2012. He probably should have won it in 2014, but finished 6th to eventual winner Jeff Gordon. He led almost half of that race (70) and was class of the field for good portion of the race. I think he was very motivated to run strong that weekend because he knew the chase was looming. It was his best performance since 2005 when he finished 2nd. In the 2014 race, he managed 4.0 average running position and 132.7 driver rating. He also performed very strongly in the 2013 race as well and finished 3rd. At Pocono, he have been much worse at than Indy. There was a trend for Kahne at Pocono, before last season. In his first three season with HMS (from 2012 to 2014), he have finished inside the top 10 in every 2nd Pocono race. Including finishes of 1st and 2nd. And in the 1st Pocono races, he have finished 29th or worse in every Pocono race. In 2015? Roles were reversed. He finished 13th in the first Pocono race and 43rd in the 2nd Pocono race. So trying to figure out Kahne at Pocono been next to impossible in my opinion.

Short Tracks will be somewhat of a strong suit, but I still expect him to post inconsistent results. I would say Richmond been his best racetrack since joining HMS back in 2012. Over the past two seasons, he have finishes of 18th, 6th, 17th and 14th. In 8 career races with HMS, he have never finished worse than 21st and that came in 2013. In 5 of those other 7 races, he have finished 12th-18th. His other two finishes have resulted in 5th and 6th. In the past 3 of 4 spring Richmond races, Kahne have posted an driver rating above 95.0. In the fall races? Only once have he surpassed that mark. In fact, he only once topped an driver rating of 80.0. At Bristol, he have been strong recently at since joining HMS. From August 2012 to March 2014, he had finishes of 9th, 1st, 2nd and 8th. His previous three races since? 35th, 37th and 16th. So much like most of his track stats and performances, his Bristol record have nose-dived over the past few seasons. I think Bristol will be a good track for Kahne where he will perform well, but he is questionable on his finishes though. He will probably have his best chance for success at Martinsville, even though I think he will also have potential for poor finishes. Over the past 2 seasons, he have had finishes of  9th, 11th, 40th and 22nd. Over the past 7 races dating back to August 2012, he have finished 11th or better in 4 races and have finished 22nd or worse in his other three races. When comparing the three tracks, he probably have found the most successful at Martinsville. However at the same time, he also have found the most trouble at Martinsville.

Road courses is where Kahne will be very underrated at. He have the proper equipment and skillset to be successful on the courses in my opinion. His inconsistency in general will scare people off, but he have been very strong the past two seasons on both Sonoma and Watkins Glenn. At Sonoma, he been impressive since the 2009 season. Since winning in 2009, he have finished 20th or better in every race. Including 5 Top 10 finishes and 3 straight top 8 finishes headed into the 2016 season. He haven't been quite as good at Watkins Glenn, but still very respectably. Over the past three seasons, he have finishes of 42nd, 12th and 34th. Prior to the past three seasons, he finished 13th-17th from 2008 to 2012 in all but one race. So not like he have performed poorly at Watkins Glenn, it has more to do with bad luck as you can see by his finishes of 42nd and 34th. He finished 8 laps down in 2013 and 12 laps down in last season's race. In 2016, I think this will be a strong spot for Kasey Kahne and should be least top 15 threat in both races. Given everything goes according to plan for Kahne.

Restrictor Plate tracks will be where Kahne have the most problems at in 2016 in my opinion. I feel this is a type racetrack that have given Kahne fits over the past few years, and always seems to find the big one or should I say the big one always find him? Last season he had finishes of 32nd, 9th, 19th and 34th. His numbers are inconsistent and that how he looked ever since joining HMS. 1 strong finish with 3 poor finishes on this type track. That's usually a typical season for Kahne and I think that trend will continue into 2016.

*All stats from DriverAverages.com

Twitter - @CarlHeirman