Sometimes, you’ve just had enough.
Kasey Kahne, after being beaten and pounded with questions surrounding the lack of success that he’s had this season, vented some annoyance and anger during a media center appearance at Pocono Raceway this weekend.
Kahne, 34, claims his team has struggled to put together a complete race, leading to the unfortunate finishes and a dismal 18th position in the championship standings.
“I think there has been a touch of bad luck and then we just haven’t put together full races,” Kahne expressed during the media center appearance. “We’ve had great practices over the last month, maybe a little more than that. We’ve been really good in practice; great at times during the race, but we haven’t put together the full race.”
Kahne’s prime example of not being able to finish races was at Charlotte Motor Speedway a few weeks ago.
“At Charlotte we were really good in the All-Star race, the best car there, and so Jimmie and Chad (Knaus) saw that (and) started there the next week and then built that set-up from (our car),” Kahne further expressed. “They won and dominated the race and did a really good job.
“We weren’t on the lead lap the whole night so it was hard to race. We were a lap down from the 50th mile on. So that made for a tough Charlotte. But I think we’re really close. We just need to put races together.”
Teammates, including six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, are beginning to witness Kahne become even more distraught, however, Kahne suspects he’s handled himself perfectly through the ups-and-downs.
“It’s been a bit frustrating at times, but I think I’ve handled it all pretty well. In my opinion I feel like I have,” Kahne explained. “Last Monday was probably the worst Monday I’ve had of the season after a bad result. We went from 17th to fifth and then just couldn’t hit on it from there. But we had a really fast car.”
Kahne, also, doesn’t believe long-time crew chief Kenny Francis and him are becoming irritated with each other; he claims the team, as a whole, is trying to cure the problem.
“We haven’t had too much between each other,” Kahne commented about his relationship with Francis. (Kenny and I) have our Tuesday’s we spend a couple of hours, we had lunch yesterday for a couple of hours. We are trying. We are working at it. We just need to hit on it; once we do hopefully we can run with it for a while.”
Hendrick Motorsports, which consists of Johnson, Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., have seen their competitors muscle into victory lane and to an eventual Chase berth this season – except for Kahne.
Though, despite the Chase field almost completed, Kahne isn’t feeling pressured, he’s just focused and determined on the task at hand – winning on Sunday.
“At Hendrick Motorsports, we all want to be in the Chase,” Kahne added. “(Everyone would) definitely be happy if we pulled it off and won a race.
“Last time we were here (at Pocono) we won. So, I feel good about racing at Pocono. This is a track where I’ve run well in the past and with Hendrick race cars and engines it makes it a lot easier. We just need to put the whole 400 miles together. If we do that, we’ll have a shot to win.”
Kahne, who’s been unable to hoist the Sprint Cup Series trophy at seasons-end, ended his remarks expressing that points are the focus, even in the new format.
“I look at it as we need to score as many points as we can each week. We just have to do the best we can and hopefully as a group we figure it out and can start putting full races together. If we can do that we will be in a good spot in a hurry because of the points system and the way that it is now.”
