On the night of his 300th Sprint Cup Series start, Kasey Kahne captured his 13th career win during the Coke Zero 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Kahne's win was his first ever behind the wheel of a Hendrick's Motorsports Chevrolet. It marked the 201st victory for owner, Rick Hendrick. But the win is more important than the value it will register on the stat sheet.
Kahne enjoyed a breakout, six win season in 2006. In 2005, he had finally secured his fist ever Sprint cup victory after a rookie season filled with near misses and an impressive 13 top five finishes.
But in the next five seasons, Kahne would be unable to build on his success. Bouncing across Dodge, Ford, and Toyato rides, he never notched more than 8 top ten finishes a season and only won five races.
Twelve races into the current season, Kahne has racked up Sunday's win, five other top ten finishes and two other top 5 finishes.
The season is still early, but consistency like this could put Kahne in contention for one of the final spots in the Chase. A legitimate shot at a points title would put the once struggling Kane right back in the spotlight.
Meanwhile, Trevor Bayne continued to struggle. Despite winning the 2011 Daytona 500, he has been unable to find any type of consistent success since. Bayne finished 24th on Sunday night after starting the race in the 13th spot.
Now technically in his second season as a Sprint cup driver, Bayne has yet to secure a full-time ride and continues to run a partial schedule. He has run less than 50% of this season's points races.
His only career top 5 finish was his improbable victory at Daytona. On average, he crosses the finish line 23rd.
Bayne's struggles could theoretically reflect poorly on NASCAR. The nature of the sport doesn't lend itself to providing a "championship bout" for its annual "big event." Unlike the NFL or MLB, there cannot be a Super Bowl or World Series. The NASCAR equivalent is the running of the Daytona 500, a race that was recently won by a struggling and part-time participant in Sprint Cup.