that wins a lot when he’s young on diff erent types of tracks and cars, you’re thinking, ‘It’s just a matter of time before something starts to click,’” Evernham says. “One day, I happened to say to his agent, ‘If his deal is ever free, I’d love to talk to him.’ “And sure enough, there was an out.” Francis, meanwhile, was content in his
role as an engineer, but Evernham coaxed him into stepping up to the crew chief position and Francis teamed with Jeremy Mayfi eld for the 2004-05 seasons. “I always thought I wanted to be an engi- neer, a technical guy,” says Francis. “I always
It’s doubtful there is a more soft-spoken
driver/crew chief combo in NASCAR, but those who know Kahne and Francis say to look beyond their quiet dispositions. “Kenny has a huge personality; you just
don’t see it,” says Keith Rodden, who has worked as an engineer under Francis since 2006. “He’s a very dynamic person. You never know what to expect. He’s really calm, calculated and smart. He’s extremely well- rounded and he’s a really good leader. “Kasey is really smart. I don’t know how
many people see that because he doesn’t say a lot and is also really shy.
much more than that. Kenny has worked on it.” And like just about every other driver/
crew chief pairing, Kahne and Francis have also had to work on keeping their emo- tions in check — especially when the action heats up. Kahne says it’s rarely an issue these days. “He’ll get angry if something doesn’t go
right — and it has to be pretty far off , not just a little off ,” Kahne says. Francis acknowledges that it’s an area
he’s strived to improve upon over the course of his career in an eff ort to become a better team leader. “I do try to keep my emotions in check
a little bit more,” he says. “T ere have been times over the years when you blow up. I’ve tried to calm that down. Ray [Evernham] helped me with that and I recognized it myself.” Francis also says that he’s seen Kahne
mature during their time together. “T e biggest change with Kasey is that
his patience has developed more over the years,” he says. Spend time in the Kahne/Francis camp,
and it’s readily apparent that they are also 100 percent focused on racing. “Kasey thinks about racing all the time,”
Evernham says. “T at’s what he loves; that’s what he does.”
Kahne says Francis shares
“Any crew chief could model themselves off of Kenny. I’m pretty lucky to get to work with him as long as I have.” —KASEY KAHNE
tell engineers and people sitting next to me on the pit box, ‘Moving that 20 inches over on the box is a big step, a lot bigger than people realize.’” Baldwin left the team in 2006 and
Francis began working with Kahne. T e relationship was solid from the
get-go and they were fast on the track, but Evernham admits to having one concern. “T e only thing that I ever really worried
about was that they are both really quiet. T ey are both really introverted,” he says. “I was afraid that there wasn’t going to be any radio communications — ‘Hello, 10-4, test, test, anybody here?’”
48 NASCAR ILLUSTRATED “T ey have good chemistry. T ey’ve
developed a pretty strong friendship and a good working relationship.” T at Kahne and Francis are men of very
few words never proved to be a problem, but they have had to hone their communi- cation skills. “Kasey had to mature a little bit on the
radio; he was not the nicest person on the radio,” Evernham says. “Kenny has worked on his skills as far as communicating with the team. Kenny’s very much the engineer, very logical. Like, he tells you something, you should get it. If you don’t, it’s not his problem. “But when you’re a crew chief, it takes
the same trait, which makes for a good fi t. “He’s defi nitely a very
focused person,” he says. “He knows what he wants in racing
and what he needs to do to get to that point.” And while Kahne and Francis have
grown closer during their seasons together, Kahne discovered a newfound appreciation for his crew chief after running the fi nal fi ve races of 2010 with Red Bull while Francis stayed behind at RPM. “I always knew it, but you do see the
time and eff ort he puts in compared to most,” Kahne says. “Everybody tries to get their stuff done and take a day off . He’s not about that. He’s about getting your stuff done and then fi guring out how to get bet- ter after that. “Any crew chief could model themselves
Photo: Chuck Yadmark; Opposite: Jim Fluharty
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