YOUNGER GUN.(News)

Byline: BILL McGUIRE

Is Kasey Kahne NASCAR's next star?

Kasey Kahne can no longer recall the precise moment he first decided he was going to be a race car driver. "Really, it's all I ever wanted to do,'' says the 23-year-old. "My dad always worked on sprint cars and then owned his own sprinter, so from the time I was little I went to every race I possibly could. All I ever wanted to do was race. I never thought about doing anything else.'' And now, after one or two minor detours on his way to the big time, Kahne has arrived. Suddenly he is the hottest rookie in Nextel Cup. In just his second Cup-career start he nearly won, finishing second at Rockingham to reigning champion Matt Kenseth in a near-photo finish. In the race at Las Vegas he backed it up, qualifying his Ray Evernham Dodge on the pole and again finishing second. He also finished second in the Vegas Busch event. If he keeps this up, the wins can't be far behind.

True to his roots, Kahne started his career in open-wheelers. From his hometown of Enumclaw, Washington, he began racing micro midgets at 14 and mini sprints the next year. In 1997, at 17, he moved up to the full-size sprinters, and soon landed a ride with Steve Lewis, car owner to the future stars. (Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have all taken their turns in Lewis' cars.) Kahne won the USAC Midget title, the Belleville Midget Nationals two years running and the "Night Before the 500'' event at Indianapolis Raceway Park in consecutive years as well. Earning a development deal with Ford, Kahne also ran a handful of Formula 2000 and Toyota Atlantic races in 2001, and tested Bobby Rahal's Champ Car. But Kahne decided to forego the open-wheelers and concentrate on stock cars, moving to Robert Yates' furtive Busch Series program for 2002. "I'm happier this way,'' says Kahne. "I've always been an oval guy, though I really do enjoy road racing. These race cars are a lot of fun to drive. I enjoy trying to figure them out.''

Not that there haven't been a few bumps in the road. "In my first year in Busch I think I learned everything wrong you can do in a race car. Hopefully I'll remember a lot of that stuff and we don't have to go through that learning curve again,'' Kahne says. In 20 starts, Kahne recorded only one top-10 ...