Friday
Heluva Good! at The Glen Friday Q&A with Dodge Motorsports NSCS Driver Kasey Kahne
Press ReleaseKASEY KAHNE (No. 19 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
HOW DID THE FOUNDATION RACE GO AT WILLIAMS GROVE? “Wednesday night, we had a Foundation (Kasey Kahne Foundation) race at Williams Grove. Kyle Busch came out and we had a great time, a great crowd. The race went well. It was a blast. Last night, we put on a race at Oswego Speedway here in New York and had another really great crowd and had some fun. It’s been a good week. I did some racing I drove a Super Modified last night too. I enjoyed it. I got to race a little bit.”
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE THIS YEAR COMPARED TO 2006 WHEN YOU WERE IN THE CHASE? “In ’06, we were winning a bunch (six wins) so we felt like we should have been more in the mix (Chase point standings). We were in that area (near the bubble), had a couple of bad races and ended up on the outside looking in. We went to California and Richmond and had to perform; we needed to win and we needed to run up front. We won at California and run third at Richmond and made it (into the Chase) by 30 some points. We did exactly what we needed to do. There was a little bit of pressure doing that, but it felt good to make it being over 90 points out with two races to go. Right now, we’re sitting really good. We just have to keep doing the same thing, not make any mistakes and not give up a lot of points.
“The race cars are better. The race team, working with Kenny Francis (crew chief) and the pit crew has really been good on pit road. Everything is getting better as the season goes on. The communication has been really good.”
WHAT ARE THE KEYS HERE AT WATKINS GLEN? “The biggest thing is getting the runs down the straightaways, getting off the corners. There are a couple of different straightaways that you can pass on. Figuring out how to do that and having a good strategy throughout the race which Kenny (Francis) and Keith (Rodden, team engineer) will do for our team. Having a good strategy, passing and pitting at the right time are the keys.”
WHAT WILL THE DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS GOING TO BE LIKE HERE? “Pocono has a pretty good (long) front straightaway, this place has a pretty good front straightaway and then everybody brakes into a corner. It will be similar to that (Pocono), but I wouldn’t think it would be quite as aggressive as Pocono. There’s not as much race track to get aggressive here. All the restarts from here out are going to be kind of wild. Everybody really wants to pass and wants to win races and they’re going to get excited.”
WHAT DO YOU BRING FROM YOUR WIN AT INFINEON TO WATKINS GLEN? “It’s the same car and we have a good starting point with the things we learned at Sonoma. We’ve changed some stuff because there’s a lot more speed here. We know we can run well at these tracks (road courses) and just go out and do our best. Hopefully, qualify well and be up front and not make any mistakes, not get off track.
IS THIS THE RACE THAN CAN MAKE OR BREAK THE DRIVERS THAT MAY NOT BE VERY GOOD ON ROAD COURSES AND ARE TRYING TO STAY IN THE CHASE OR THOSE TRYING TO GET IN? “It can, but you still have Bristol and a few other tracks. At Bristol, you never know what’s going to happen. The whole track can be blocked with an incident and you can have 10 cars in a wreck. It’s a tough place. But yes, this (track) could slow some guys up if you can’t get around this track and play the right strategy. It could hurt you in the points.”
- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release
Article Tags: Dodge Motorsports, Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen, Kasey Kahne, NASCAR, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NSCS, The Glen, Watkins Glen International, WGI
