Kahne’s Able At Phoenix International Raceway

With virtually every eye in the packed house focused on the battle for second place between championship rivals Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne sort of got lost in the shuffle as the laps wound down in November’s Kobalt Tools 500 at the newly configured Phoenix International Raceway.

Kahne obviously didn’t care – especially with Edwards and Stewart, as they say, otherwise occupied.

He took the lead on the 299th lap, when Brad Keselowski pitted, then headed the remaining 13 times around the one-mile oval to nicely cap what amounted to a lame-duck season with Team Red Bull. He posted a solid Driver Rating of 112.3.

November’s finish was Kahne’s second top 10 of the year at Phoenix, a track that hadn’t been good to the Washington driver for a number of years. Before finishing sixth in the spring race, Kahne had gone eight starts with finishes ranging from 13th to 40th.

Kahne ended the 2011 campaign with three top 10s: a victory, third in Texas and seventh in the Homestead-Miami finale.

All of which makes Kahne, now driving Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet, one of the favorites heading into Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500.