Kasey Kahne Is Ready for His Greatest Adventure at Hendrick Motorsports

Kasey Kahne has begun a four-year stint with Hendrick Motorsports, which is certainly his biggest NASCAR adventure yet and the highlight of his Sprint Cup career, with opportunity unlike any he has ever known.

Kahne will be piloting the Farmers Insurance No. 5 Chevrolet at HMS. He finds himself in a much more stable environment than he knew at Richard Petty Motorsports or Red Bull Racing.

The enthusiasm was obvious in Kahne's voice when he spoke of Hendrick Motorsports as "a really incredible place."

Kahne went on to say, "It's neat, though. It's awesome to be able to talk with Jimmie and Dale and Jeff about racing and driving and things like that, and then just all the people that they have there."

The former Red Bull Racing driver did not demand that his crew chief, Kenny Francis, move to HMS.

When he first negotiated with Rick Hendrick, Kahne said, "Man, Kenny is really good, he should be part of this place, and it would be great if he was my crew chief."

From there, it appeared Rick Hendrick was in full agreement with bringing Francis in as the crew chief for Kahne.

Kahne went on to say, "It's been pretty awesome on my side to see how Kenny has fit right into that group, how they've wanted Kenny, how he's wanted to be part of it."

Expectations are running high for the new driver of the No. 5 to add to his 12 career wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this season.

On Day 1 of testing at Daytona, Kahne went out with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 and was pushed in tandem about four laps, then they made the swap and he pushed about three laps until time ran out for the session.

Kahne stated, "The handling of the car has changed a little bit when you're getting pushed, and definitely the temperature has changed. So we're just trying to figure that out."

Late afternoon practice on the second day of testing showed Kahne fifth fastest at a speed of 205.747, which was identical to teammate Jeff Gordon.

There is little doubt Kahne and Francis have found a home at Hendrick Motorsports, and you can look for them to be strong contenders not only for wins, but the Chase and possibly the Cup title as well.

Jeff Gordon said, ''They are a great package. Kenny is a super-smart guy."

Kahne was asked if he had second thoughts about Twitter after a recent non-racing incident. He said,"I took a little time off Twitter, and I just got going again now. I'm glad we're racing again. I just talk about racing like I've always done on Twitter."

What impresses Kahne the most is the stability at Hendrick Motorsports. He stated, "I just need to make the best out of it. I need to put all the effort that I have into it. It could be my best four years ever. So I just want to do all that."

Let the adventure begin for Kasey Kahne.

Quotes courtesy of official NASCAR press release.