Kasey Kahne Makes a Believer Out Of B/R's Own David Yeazell

All week long B/R’s own David Yeazell kept bellowing out the name Kasey Kahne.

His prognosis of Kahne was plain and simple, "This kid can drive and will win the Daytona 500."

Last weekend Yeazell took a step of faith during the Budweiser Shootout, and chose Kahne in one of his fantasy leagues to bring home the victory.

Even though Kahne fell one spot short of the victory, finishing a very respectable second, Yeazell continued his chant that Kahne would come back during the second duel, and finish the job that he had started last weekend.

David Yeazell, all I can say is I hope you didn’t get too excited that you forgot to take the lens cap off of your camera, since I know you were in victory lane joining in on the celebration.

So with that…after debuting in the Ford Fusions of Matt Kenseth and David Ragan last fall at Talladega Superspeedway, the FR9 engine is back in action during Daytona Speedweeks.

Today’s win by Kasey Kahne was the first win for Ford’s new FR9 engine.

The win also marked the first for Richard Petty Motorsports since joining Ford at the beginning of this season.

Kasey Kahne’s win was his first at Daytona International Speedway, the first with Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and the 20th win for Ford in a Gatorade Duel qualifying race.

Kahne becomes the third active Ford driver to ever win a Gatorade Duel, joining Bill Elliott (four) and Elliott Sadler (two).

“It was really exciting throughout the race. My car started off pretty loose on entry and a little bit tight off, and Kenny Francis and our Budweiser team did a great job on the pit stop to get it a little bit better," said Kahne.

“It feels great. You watch tons of races growing up as a kid. That’s all I did is watch racing or go to races, and I can remember every Daytona 500, having 15-20 people at my house—breakfast and all that."

Kahne also added that, "Our car owner, Richard Petty, is a big part of that history and it feels good to be in Victory Lane here and win this early in the year.”