King of Beer ... and babes

LONG POND, Pa. -- You'd be hard pressed to find two bigger power houses than Budweiser or Paris Hilton and NASCAR's Kasey Kahne is getting a taste of both.

Considered to be NASCAR's man candy and No. 1 heartthrob in the garage, Kahne is one of a few drivers Anheuser-Busch is looking to sponsor after Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he would not re-sign with the beer maker in light of his contract to drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008.

Negotiations between Budweiser and Kahne are ongoing and, before final practice on Saturday for the Pennsylvania 500, Kahne said he feels the two parties are close.

"I've been in some conversations, so I would say it's closer if they bring the driver into conversations and they went really well; I really like the people there," said Kahne, who realizes the branding and marketing power behind Budweiser, the largest sponsor in all of sports which averages between $18 to $20 million a season for Earnhardt Jr. alone.

"I just hope it happens," Kahne added. "Everybody, whether it's racing, football or whatever, you see Bud all over, it's everywhere. If you can be a part of that it's a great opportunity."

A contract has yet to be signed, according to Kahne's team officials at Evernham Motorsports.

From beer to babes, Kahne created a major buzz this weekend after making tabloids for a brief encounter with Hollywood scene girl Hilton.

Last week while doing promotions for California Speedway, Kahne and company hit the clubs, Les Duex in Hollywood to be exact. There, Kahne spotted Hilton and a conversation commenced, but the No. 9 Dodge driver denies any romantic involvement, for now.

"She was there, it was cool, I got to talk to her and meet her -- that was it," he said. "We talked for two or three minutes, she said bye and I walked away."

So who noticed who?

"For me I was [at the] right place at the right time," he said. "I mean, Paris is as big as it gets in celebrities ... and I got to talk to her and meet her -- it was cool for me."

Kahne said the two actually talked about racing.

"She was telling me about her racing experience," he said. "She hasn't done any racing but she was going to do a celebrity race."

Initially, the New York Daily News reported Kahne and Hilton, a celebrity heiress and recent jailbird, shared a more intimate moment.

"The two of them chatted for a while," a source told the Daily News," and before they parted ways for the night, she leaned in and whispered 'God, you're cute,' and kissed him!"

Regardless whether a love connection was made or not, the pop culture power behind the encounter puts NASCAR on a different level.

Andrew Giangola, Director of Business Communications for NASCAR, said back in the day drivers lived lives outside the klieg-light glare of the media.

Today, however, the sport is bigger.

"There's the pre-race show before the pre-race show," he said. "NASCAR drivers are household names. And they're being dragged into the world of gossip and innuendo."

Giangola said the hook-up between Hilton and Kahne could produce a marketers' dream commercial for Budweiser or other sponsors.

"Whatever happened at the Les Duex in Tinseltown," he said. "Kasey's sponsor should do a spoof commercial for You Tube, I'm not sure how it starts, but here's the ending: Those Allstate girls kick Paris Hilton's butt."