Evernham’s year is one to forget

Ray Evernham’s race team had all the optimism in the world a year ago. Elliott Sadler had replaced Jeremy Mayfield, and Kasey Kahne was on the verge of qualifying for the NASCAR Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.

Kahne went on to finish eighth, Sadler’s performance in the No. 19 Dodge was better than Mayfield’s, and Scott Riggs improved to 20th in the standings.

But this season has been horrible.

Kahne is 21st in the standings, Sadler 26th and Riggs 37th.

“We got off base on the aerodynamics . . . and that caused us to get off on our testing setups,” Evernham said before the Sharp Aquos 500 on Sunday at California Speedway. “Other teams gained more than we did. . . . We missed on several things, and our resources were spread too thin.”

Kahne finished 10th on Sunday after finishing second last week at Bristol, Tenn. They are his only top 10 finishes other than two restrictor-plate races at Daytona.

“Dodge has not had the best year as a manufacturer, and we have not had the best year as a race team,” Evernham said. “Ninety percent of our research and development is going into the Car of Tomorrow. We’re looking at developing our aerodynamics, developing horsepower, primarily with the COT stuff. We want to stop the slide back.”

Sadler finished 35th, and Riggs failed to qualify for the 250-lap race, which was not a COT event.

“I still think we’re a team capable of putting cars in the winner’s circle and in the Chase,” Evernham said. “We should get back to that.”

Kurt Busch, the 2004 champion, made a big step toward securing a spot in the Chase. Busch finished ninth and moved from 12th -- the bubble spot in the Chase -- to 11th, 20 points behind Martin Truex Jr., and 25 behind Clint Bowyer.

The temperature was 107 degrees at the start of the race, with a track temperature of 147 degrees. About 1,000 people visited the speedway’s care center for heat-related incidents, a speedway spokesperson said.

Arizona Diamondbacks general partner Jeff Moorad and chief operating officer Tom Garfinkel were announced as the new majority owners of Hall of Fame Racing, the second-year team owned by former quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.

“We spoke with several teams and decided that Hall of Fame has assembled a special group of people and created a foundation for success that we hope to build on,” Moorad said. “You win with people and we want to add resources and opportunity for the people who are here.”

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martin.henderson@latimes.com