Yesterday Kasey Kahne opened up with reporters about his widely-publicized dalliance with Paris Hilton. As legend has it, Kahne and Hilton were at a Los Angeles nightclub where Hilton told Kahne she thought he was cute and kissed him. Said Kahne, "Somebody made it into a big deal."

That somebody was the unknown person who fed the item to The New York Daily News gossip page, which reported on Aug. 3 2007, "Who knew NASCAR revved Paris Hilton's engine? Driver Kasey Kahne was out at Les Duex in Hollywood Wednesday night when he bumped into the ubiquitous celebutant. The two of them chatted for a while, and before they parted ways for the night, she leaned in and whispered ‘God, you're cute' and kissed him!' says our source. That's our Paris!"

Since we're living in the era of NASCAR conspiracy theories, I will add one more to the mix. That item appeared in the Daily News just weeks before Budweiser signed Kahne as its driver. I have no proof of this, but isn't it possible that the Kahne-Hilton meeting could have been set up and publicized by Kahne's own people in order to boost his visibility during negotiations with Budweiser or in preparation for the big announcement? Such "chance" meetings are how the big-time publicity machine is oiled, my friends.

On Tuesday Kahne said, "That was a long time ago. I was at some party in L.A., out there with a few friends, and I met Paris Hilton. I met her. I was talking to her for a couple minutes. We were walking away. She gave me a kiss on the cheek or something like that. Wasn't that big of a deal. That was it."

Kahne added, "I never had a chance with Paris Hilton. That wasn't what it was. We ran into each other, was talking about racing a little bit. That was the end of it."

Hold on. Saying you never had a chance with Paris Hilton is like saying you never had a chance to get a library card. Of course, he did. She will date literally anything and by all accounts Kahne is a handsome and decent enough guy. He's so great, ESPN's Marty Smith even went on a man date with him recently. That's how adorable and nice Kahne is. Smith busted out his old-school Guns 'N Roses shirt just to look cool around him.

Maybe Kahne is downplaying the meeting because it was nothing more than a publicity stunt. If so, it worked. People are still talking about it.

Kasey Kahne: 'I never had a chance with Paris Hilton' (Blog of Tomorrow)

Related links:
The women of Kasey Kahne
NASCAR drivers clubbing