Friday, December 29, 2017

2018 Fantasy Nascar Profile: Kasey Kahne

Welcome to TimersSports

Driver Name: Kasey Kahne

Car #: 95

Make: Chevy

Season Debut: 2004 (First-Full Season)

Number of Championships: 0

# of Career Starts: 504

# of Career Poles: 27

# of Career Wins: 18

# of Career Top 5s: 92 

# of Career Top 10s: 175

# of Career DNFs: 66

# of Career laps led: 4,648

Career Average Finish: 17.4  

Career Average Start: 14.0

# of 2017 Wins: 1

# of 2017 Top 5s: 3

# of 2017 Top 10s: 6

# of 2017 Poles: 0

# of 2017 DNFs: 7

# of 2017 laps led: 41

2017 Average Finish: 19.4

2017 Average Start: 17.9

2017 Fantasy Recap -  Things came to an end for Kasey Kahne at Hendrick Motorsports in the No.5 car. I thought it was pretty easy decision for Rick Hendrick to make overall. You have a struggling driver in one of your cup rides and then there's a rising star. You pick the young rising star every single time. Nothing aganst Kasey, but he just wore out his welcome in the No.5 car. Not like he wasn't given chances and us fantasy players know all about him. If you played fantasy nascar long enough, you learn to stay away from him. Because he loves burning us on a consistent basis. I don't blame it all on him though. Some of the stuff was bad luck throughout his years with the 5 team, but at some point you have to be accountable. Rick wanted his bill at end of the 2017 season. It's not all bad news though. He did score his first win since the 2014 season and made the playoffs for the first time in 3 seasons. Bad news? He had his worst year with Hendrick Motorsports. 3 Top 5 finishes and 6 Top 10 finishes with 19.4 average finish are all career-worst with the no. 5 team. Statistically speaking, it was his second worst season to his 2007 season of his entire career. I think switching teams will be the best thing for him. He isn't in the spot light anymore and going to be with the 95 team with HMS funding behind him. It's not a bad thing at all to have some connections with a guy like Mr. Hendrick.

Strong Tracks -  Dover, Richmond and Atlanta 

Weak Tracks -  Watkins Glen and Daytona  

2018 Fantasy Outlook - The 95 team ran very well in 2017 with Michael McDowell, so for Kasey's sake hopefully it is even better in 2018. Which I wouldn't be shocked by with some backing from Hendrick Motorsports. Will it be significantly better? I don't think so, but I think the cars will be faster than they were in 2017 with McDowell. But honestly it is really hard to tell how a driver will do with a whole new team. A lot of times, these drivers will struggle in that first year, with them trying to get use to the new crew and everything else. Personally, I am not going get too much into Kasey. However, I think within 12 races, we will have a pretty good feel on him and his new team. For now, all we can do is take a stab on some predictions. I really hope things work out for him and the 95 team. Both sides deserve to have something special!

*All stats are from DriverAverages.com

Twitter - @JeffNathans18