Kahne finished eighth in the final point standings. In addition to the six wins, he had 12 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes and started from the Bud Pole six times during the season, more than any other driver that season.

Part of the success can be attributed to a change team owner Ray Evernham made at the end of the 2005 season when he shuffled personnel within the organization. Kahne was teamed with Kenny Francis (team director), Mike Shiplett (car director) and Keith Rodden (engineer).

Evernham hit the right formula with the Kahne-Francis combination. Francis, a former driver himself, had been instrumental in putting a Gillett Evernham Motorsports entry in The Chase the two previous years with the No. 19 car. Bringing the two together paid dividends quickly as the Kahne-Francis combo claimed victory in their fourth outing together. It was a natural partnership which led to a berth in The Chase for the Championship and earned Gillett Evernham Motorsports the distinction of having a team in The Chase all three years.

Evernham's team structure eliminated the crew chief position and replaced it with a leadership team comprised of a team director, car director and engineer. The change was designed to foster better collective thinking and decision making.

Kahne also competed in 17 NASCAR Nationwide Series races in 2006, posting two wins, one at Las Vegas and another at California.

Kahne has also achieved ample success off the track. He continued to add to his legion of fans, both young and old, and has become one of NASCAR's most popular drivers. The Kasey Kahne Foundation, established to raise funds for charitable organizations that care for disadvantaged youth and chronically ill children and their families, raised over $300,000 during the year. He also serves on the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation formed by President Bush after September 11th to promote volunteerism by Americans.

In 2005, Kahne claimed his first career Sprint Cup Series victory, an impressive win from the pole at Richmond in May. Kahne qualified the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger in the top 10 on 15 occasions including two poles – back-to-back at Darlington and Richmond. While Kahne consistently ran up front, several factors led to a disappointing 23rd place finish in the season ending point standings

Few rookies have impacted the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series the way Kahne did in 2004. At the start of the season, he was an unknown rookie. By the end of the season, Kasey Kahne was a household name. Whether it was his hard-charging style on the race track or the year-long media frenzy, Kahne’s popularity skyrocketed over the course of the season.

Kahne was elated to be Evernham's choice to replace legendary Bill Elliott in the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge in 2004. Evernham saw the talent, similar to earlier years when another youngster emerged on the NASCAR scene from the open-wheel ranks. Evernham teamed with that driver – Jeff Gordon – to win three championships and 47 races in NASCAR's premier series.

In his first season at Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2004, Kahne had 13 top-five finishes and four poles. He finished 13th in the season point standings and easily claimed the Raybestos