Is this Kahne's Week?

The start if the 2012 NASCAR season in the Sprint Cup series has been everything but exciting for Kasey Kahne’s and his new team at Hendrick Motorsports.

After dismal finishes of 29^th at Daytona, and 34^th at Phoenix, Kahne finds himself 30^th in the points standings and in need of a strong finish heading into this weekend's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Once the dust and smoke cleared from the Daytona 500, Kahne’s team had high hopes entering Phoenix International Speedway last week.

That optimism quickly ceased when Kahne lost control of his car early in the race and smacked the wall, putting him in a bigger hole to start the season.

“I made a mistake,” said Kahne, speaking of his misfortunes in Phoenix.

He also attributed his bad luck to his excitement of his new race team and needing to calm down a bit inside his new racecar.

Kahne could have not calmed down at a better time than during today’s Sprint Cup qualifying in Las Vegas.

Traveling almost 200mph into the turns at Las Vegas is not only breath taking, but it is also treacherous. For Kahne, it seemed like a calm stroll in the park.

Kahne piloted his #5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet around the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway today and claimed his first pole of the season, 23^rd of his career, while setting a new track record with an average lap of 190.456mph.

For Kahne and his team, this could be the weekend they finally get things going their way.

In 8 starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kahne only has an average finish of 14.9, but if the track conditions on Sunday are similar to Friday during qualifying, the competition better watch out.

“I like it when tires fall off. I think that’s when our best races are,” said Kahne after his pole run. “Tires will fall off on long runs.”

As history has shown on mile and a half racetracks, Kahne likes it when the tracks are hot, slippery, and have multiple racing grooves

Tracks like Atlanta, Charlotte, and Texas are similar to Vegas and are tracks where tire fall off leads to drivers searching all grooves of the track. Oh yeah, these are also similar tracks that Kasey has won at before.

Track position is always important, but for Kahne, track conditions will play an ultimate role in his chances for this weekend’s race in Vegas.

Kahne, with HMS crew chief, Kenny Francis

Sunday could be Kahne’s chance to get his season going in the right direction.

Friday’s effort was only the calm, let’s wait until after the race Sunday to see is Kasey can finally survive the storm.

If you are a gambler and in Las Vegas, I would consider investing in the #5 team, because weather conditions for Las Vegas on Sunday are 75 degrees and sunny……..going to make for a slick-groovy track.