There’s no place like Kansas track for Kahne
Nextel Cup driver needs to have a good run at the 1.5-mile speedway.
By JIM PEDLEY
The Kansas City Star
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kasey Kahne finished 38th and 16th in the last two Cup races and is ninth in the Chase standings, 182 points out.
To qualify for this year’s Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship, Kasey Kahne and his team had to shift into full-scramble mode in September.
To remain in contention for the championship, they’ll have to do it again.
And start doing it soon.
Good thing Sunday’s race is at Kansas Speedway, Kahne said Wednesday.
“I don’t see why we can’t run up front and make the right adjustments and do the right thing in the race and put ourselves in the right spot at the end to win,” Kahne said of the Banquet 400.
Kind of like what he did at California and Richmond in the final two races before the start of the 10-race Chase.
Kahne was 11th when he got to California Speedway. He was 90 points out of 10th place, and he was in need of a couple of seriously good finishes.
He got the first of those at California when he won the race.
The following week at Richmond, still needing to make up 30 points, Kahne finished third.
That, combined with a bad day for Tony Stewart, put him 10th in points and into the Chase.
Kahne and team took a deep breath in the humid darkness of Virginia late that night.
After getting out of his car, Kahne said: “We have the most wins, and I think we have a good start to the final 10. We ran first and third the final two weeks, and we’re going to take this momentum to New Hampshire and focus on the championship now.”
When Kahne moved on to New Hampshire, the momentum stayed in Richmond. He finished 16th and behind seven of the other Chase drivers.
Last weekend in Dover, disaster struck and struck early. Thirteen laps into the race, Kahne’s car was collected by Stewart’s spinning car.
Kahne’s badly damaged car was taken to the garages for work. Kahne sat alone in the Dover infield as the cars blew past and laps clicked off.
Kahne’s car eventually limped back onto the track, but when the race ended, Kahne was 38th.
Kahne and his Evernham Motorsports team will arrive Friday in Kansas ninth in the Chase standings, 182 points out of first place.
And in full-scramble mode.
Mentally, Kahne said, he’s in good shape.
“I think, you know, mainly I just need to get back in my car,” he said. “I got back in the car even on Sunday, and we had 300 laps to go or 250, and I did everything I could to go fast and, you know, run as fast as I could for those laps. It’s pretty easy to do. I feel like every time I’m in a car, all I want to do is go as fast as possible.”
And, he said, there certainly is nothing wrong with the team behind him, nor the machinery under him.
“I think if there’s any team that can do it right now, it’s ours,” Kahne said of doing well enough to climb back into contention. “We’ve been good. Our team has done an awesome job all year. We’ve had a great season, but we’ve had some tough breaks, too. That’s racing. Things happen, and we’ve had a bit of both this year.”
And Kansas Speedway? Perfect.
Three of Kahne’s series-leading five victories have come on 1.5-mile speedways. Kansas is a 1.5-mile speedway. The other two victories came at relatively flat 2-mile ovals. Kansas is relatively flat.
After Kansas, there will be four more 1.5-mile Chase venues.
More perfection, Kahne said.
“I feel like we can definitely win some more races, lead laps, get right back in the middle of the thing,” he said. “I don’t think we’re out. I think we’re a long ways from winning the championship. I think that, you know, with the right breaks and the performance that we’re capable of doing, we can get right back in it.”
There’s no place like Kansas track for Kahne