Kasey Kahne
No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion
Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
• With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams racing close to home this weekend, Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Ford, will be logging miles on the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway as well as off the track, through the streets of Uptown Charlotte, N.C.
• On Saturday night Kahne and the No. 9 Budweiser Ford team are scheduled to race 500 miles at the speedway in the Bank of America 500. The following morning, Sunday, Oct. 17, Kahne will host and participate in the Kasey Kahne Foundation “Five Kahne sponsored by Bank of America,” a 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) charity run and kids’ dash in Uptown Charlotte. Scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., the run starts at Bank of America Stadium and concludes at the NASCAR Hall of Fame where ESPN reporter Marty Smith will lead a Q&A session with Kahne following the run.
• The Kasey Kahne Foundation, which has pledged $500,000 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities, aims to raise awareness for next year’s grand opening of the new Ronald McDonald House of Charlotte located on Morehead Street across from Levine Children’s Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center. In addition, proceeds from the event will establish a scholarship fund for advance science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education field trips to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for students associated with the NC STEM Community Collaborative.
• Those that don’t wish to run in the 5K, but still want to contribute to the cause can participate instead in Kasey’s Lead Foot Challenge. To register, or for additional information, visit www.kaseykahnefoundation.org.
• Kahne and the No. 9 Budweiser Ford team enter the weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway fresh off of their seventh top-five finish of the season. The fourth-place run at Auto Club Speedway moved Kahne up two spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings to 19th position.
• In 13 starts at the 1.5-mile track, Kahne has scored three point-paying wins (including the 2006 Bank of America 500), five top fives and seven top-10 finishes. His average starting position at the track is 9.4 and his average finish is 11.6.
• With six races remaining in the 2010 season, Kahne has earned three pole awards, seven top fives and nine top-10 finishes.
• Follow along each weekend with Kahne and the team on Twitter. Check out @kaseykahne for behind-the-scenes information straight from the driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Ford. Get live updates from the track each weekend from @kk9team, the PR team for Kahne. Also, follow @RPMotorsports for additional information about the Richard Petty Motorsports organization.
• Become a fan of Budweiser on Facebook. Exclusive information on Kasey and the No. 9 Budweiser Ford Team can be found on the Budweiser Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/Budweiser.
• For the online version of the Budweiser Racing media guide, please visit .
Kasey Kahne discusses racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Five Kahne 5K scheduled for Sunday:
Are you looking forward to Charlotte race week? “Yeah, I always like Charlotte, especially the racing because it’s a good track for us. Then just being close to home and being able to do some things whether it’s with the fan club, sponsor stuff or with our foundation like this year with our 5K on Sunday morning, I think all of that stuff is kind of exciting and gives you something to look forward to.”
The track has gone through a lot of changes physically the last couple of years. Has it altered how the cars react? “It hasn’t changed a whole lot. That track is pretty similar every time we go back with the feel. The cars have changed a lot with the setups as far as what we do and what other teams do, so we just need to keep working hard at that. If we hit on it, we’ll be up front this week. That’s just one of our tracks that we’re good at.”
Are those 1.5-mile tracks the kind you enjoy most? “They’ve always suited me the most. I was able to kind of figure them out a lot quicker than some of the other tracks.”
Your foundation is hosting a 5K on Sunday. Are you an avid runner? “I like running and staying in shape, and I would say I probably run about 10-12 miles a week. I’ll run three or four miles at a time, it just depends on the day and what I have scheduled.”
How did the 5K come about? “My trainer at KKR (Ryan Von Reuden) thought it would be neat and my sister (Shanon Adams) started working with him on the foundation side. With the Ronald McDonald House, the Hall of Fame, and Bank of America being in downtown Charlotte, it was a good fit for a lot of the partners we’ve had the last few years, so it all came together and I’m looking forward to it. Budweiser is going to be a part of it, too, so it should be exciting and hopefully a lot of people will come and sign up. It’s going to be a good time.”
I’m sure you would like that 5K event to be a victory celebration as well, right? “I’d rather be a bit tired going into the race on Sunday morning.”
Is it true that as the host, you will the lead the pack from start to finish for Sunday’s 5k? “No, that’s not true. I would struggle with that because there are going to be some fast runners participating (laughing).”
