Top 10 NASCAR Driver of the Year 2012:4. Kasey Kahne Birthdate: April 10, 1980
Hometown: Enumclaw, WA
Team: Hendrick Motorsports
Crew chief: Kenny Francis
2012 starts: 36
Poles: 4
Wins: 2
Top 5: 12
Top 10: 19
Annual earnings: $4,721,970
Championship points: 2345
Championship position: 4th
Crash.net NASCAR Driver of 2011 position: 9th
After seeing out a slightly uncomfortable 2011 with the imploding Red Bull Racing team, Kasey Kahne finally got to take up his long-promised race seat at Hendrick Motorsports this year - and immediately showed why he's such a well-regarded racer, well deserving of your votes putting him into fourth place in this year's
NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver of the Year poll.
Four poles and two wins together with no fewer than 19 top ten finishes over the course of the year is a huge achievement for his first year at HMS. While that sort of form meant that he easily made the Chase this year, in the end he had to settle for fourth place in the final Cup standings after a couple of poor results at Texas and Homestead left him too far adrift of the leaders at the very end of the season.
Surely his rivals must be worried about what he'll be able to do next season now that he's established himself with the team? It should be very interesting indeed to see what he can do form here in 2013.
Top 10 NASCAR Driver of the Year 2012 results so far:3. Clint Bowyer4. Kasey Kahne5. Mark Martin6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.7. Marcos Ambrose8. Martin Truex Jr.9. Jeff Gordon10. Greg Biffle