While the goal of a driver's season is to make the Chase For The Nextel Cup and win a championship, Kasey Kahne said he would not consider the 2006 season a disappointment if he doesn't make the Chase.
The driver of Evernham Motorsports' No. 9 Dodge is just 30 points behind Jeff Burton entering the final race of the regular season, this Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.
"I don't think it would be a disappointment," Kahne said of the possibility that he might not make the championship-determining field despite winning a series-leading five races this season. "It would definitely be upsetting that we didn't make it. You know, somebody is not going to make it.
"The season we've had has been an awesome season. We're hopefully not done winning. Whether we're in or not, I think we still have some wins in us."
Burton is not the only person that Kahne could knock out of the Chase. Only 102 points separate fourth and 11th, with veterans Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Mark Martin and Burton all in the mix.
"As close as all ... of those guys are, it's just going to come down to what happens late in the race," Kahne said. "I don't really look at one guy as who I have to beat or not. We just got to go out there and try to beat everybody."
Kahne is coming off a sweep of the weekend at California, where he won both the Busch and Nextel Cup events.
He won't be running the Busch race Friday night at Richmond.
"This weekend I was supposed to race at Busch, and we decided not to," Kahne said. "I'm thinking about it now, kind of wishing I was, but either way, it should be all right. It will give me more time to focus on the Cup car.
"Last week the Busch car actually really helped the Cup side because ... I learned some things driving that car, and then we used the Cup set up to help that car out."
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| "I don't think it would be a disappointment," Kahne said of the possibility that he might not make the championship-determining field despite winning a series-leading five races this season. "It would definitely be upsetting that we didn't make it. You know, somebody is not going to make it." |
:bs It will be a disappointment if he doesn't make the Chase. He was third at one point this year. To go from that to 11th, yeah, definately a disappointment if he doesn't make it. I still believe he will make it and make everyone's life ahead of him hell. They fear him making the Chase, and they should.