If Jimmie Johnson had a golden horseshoe you-know-where during his run of five straight championships from 2006-2010, there's no telling what color horseshoe his Hendrick teammate Kasey Kahne has right now. Because it's definitely not good.
At Daytona, Kahne was caught up in a crash and he slapped the wall at Phoenix. He was involved in a multi-car accident at Bristol when he made contact with Regan Smith, and on Sunday, his engine blew up after he started on the pole for the second time this year. It's been that kind of season.
"Well I mean it is and it isn't (disappointing)," Kahne said. "I am upset that we haven't run great this year, but we are great on Friday and Saturday, we were fast again today, and we have the speed so when it's our time we will be ready to take advantage of it."
Six races into the season, Kahne sits 31st in the points standings, behind Kurt Busch, David Ragan, David Gilliland, Dave Blaney and Casey Mears. Crazy, eh?
It's a start eerily reminiscent of Mears' first season in the No. 5 car in 2008. That year, Mears opened with finishes of 35th and 42nd in the season's first two races, and finished 42nd again at Bristol and entered Martinsville on the brink of falling out of the top 35.
That year, Mears, however, only had six top 10s and one top five. With the speed that Kahne has shown, those six top 10s could come in the next six races. Thanks to the Wild Card, a Chase berth is still a legitimate possibility.