Auto Racing | Bud is new sponsor on tap for Kahne

STATESVILLE, N.C. — Driver Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw got more than a new sponsor Tuesday. He also got the beginnings of an image makeover.

Budweiser — complete with a thunderous entrance by its trademark Clydesdales — announced it was taking its high-profile marketing campaign and NASCAR Nextel Cup Series sponsorship to Gillett Evernham Motorsports next season to pair with Kahne, 27.

The sponsor, which has been involved in NASCAR since 1983, has been with Dale Earnhardt Jr. — considered the most popular driver — since his full-time debut in the Cup series with Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2000. When Earnhardt decided he would leave DEI for Hendrick Motorsports at season's end, it marked the end of a profitable partnership.

Kahne has a large female fan base — targeted in ads by Allstate, another of his sponsors.

"His female base is very interesting for Budweiser," said Tim Schoen, an Anheuser-Busch marketing vice president. "We have many female customers as well. So we'll want to build on that and on the male side, which is our core audience, I think you'll see something different."

Kahne, 22nd in the points race this year, won a series-leading six races last year.

"You can't compare me to Dale Junior. You can't compare anybody to Dale Junior," Kahne said. "That guy is in a league of his own.

"But as far as us, we can do everything possible to get better and bigger, because of Budweiser, than I've been before."