Kasey's progression was anything but gradual. He won 11 of 14 races in 1996 to win the Hannigan Speedway championship and the Northwest Mini-Sprint Car championship. By 1998, Kasey had moved to full-size sprint cars, visiting Victory Lane a dozen times in his first season.
Steve Lewis, who has employed the likes of Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, offered Kahne a sprint, midget and Silver Crown deal that would run the full United States Auto Club (USAC) schedule in 2000. In his first season, 19 year old Kasey Kahne garnered the USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year award, and both the USAC Midget Series Champion and Driver of the Year honors.
Kasey signed with Robert Yates in 2002 to run a limited NASCAR Busch Series schedule. His best finish that year was a 10th-place effort at Michigan International Speedway. Kasey finally got his first Busch Series win in the 2003 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. For Kasey, who had quick success in every other stop in his career, was surprised it took so long to get a Busch Series win. "I really didn't think it would take so long. It did take a while, almost two years, but I did learn a lot in all that time and it actually felt that much better when we finally did win a race.”
Evernham Motorsports chose Kasey a full Cup schedule in 2004, taking over the Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge from Bill Elliott who announced he would be only running a limited schedule. Kasey was thrilled to be working with legendary crew chief, and new car owner Ray Evernham. "I couldn't think of a better way to grow as a driver than working with a leader as great as Ray Evernham," Kasey said. Kasey is currently well on his way to securing the Rookie of the Year award in the 2004 Nextel Cup series by being the highest ranked rookie in 12th place overall.
