Kahne excited about Bristol win, early season momentum
Regardless of whether he won Sunday’s race in Bristol, Kasey Kahne was going to be sitting much prettier than he was a year ago at this time.
But the Hendrick Motorsports driver did win Sunday for the first time this season, first at the Tennessee bullring, 15th of his career. Now after four races Kahne sits firmly in the top 10 in points, whereas a year ago he was 32nd and facing an uphill climb toward the Chase.
The Bristol win though, has Kahne thinking championship instead of just Chase. While he acknowledges it’s still early, he’s had the momentum and the cars to pull into Victory Lane since the season started. The pieces all fit on Sunday afternoon.
“I definitely believe in momentum. I know I’ve tried to work hard over the years to get more consistent because that was definitely my weak spot since I’ve been in the Sprint Cup Series,” Kahne said on Tuesday during a media teleconference.
“I feel really good about where we’re at right now and the momentum is huge. Confidence, momentum from the driver to the pit crew to the crew chief, every aspect of putting our car on the track, I think when you have momentum and confidence it helps. I’ve been in situations before where I’ve felt like everything was fine, like I was driving every bit as hard as I usually do, and then I won a race and realized, ‘man, now I’m like rejuvenated and have a boost of energy again to race and things.’
“So, I think it definitely helps and sometimes you don’t realize it, but when you are on the upswing and things are going well, everybody feels it and it’s a big part of running well.”
Four weeks ago when the season started Kahne and his No. 5 team came out of the gate strong. They had a car capable of winning the Daytona 500 until he crashed, something he revealed frustrated him because he was running single file and he’s never had a car that fast at Daytona, which went to waste.
Phoenix a week later, completely threw him. Not comfortable or used to the set of tires Goodyear brought for the race, Kahne and company missed their setup. His feedback, he says, wasn’t all that great either. But in Las Vegas, Kahne was the fastest thing in town and led the most laps before finishing second to Matt Kenseth.
Bristol was a big breakthrough and a big race in terms of setting himself up for a run at a championship down the road.
“The championship is still a long ways away, but I think a good start. Just off to a much better start than last year,” Kahne said. “Feel good about that. We got a little behind at the start of the season and fought back clearly in the last two weeks and got back to a good spot.
“I feel good about where we’re at, feel good about the speed of our car and our team and that’s what it’s all about is just being on the same page with all the guys. Right now we’re really working well together and enjoying it, and we have some momentum and confidence after Bristol and really looking forward to Fontana.”
Rightly so, coming off win and heading to a track that he’s won on before. Kahne was the victor at Fontana in 2006 with Dodge and Ray Evernham. A lot has changed for Kahne since then, however he still expects a few things to be the same when heading back to his native coast.
“I look forward to just the really wide racetrack, the speeds will be up, you can move around usually from the white line all the way to the wall, just about run against the wall on a big, two-mile racetrack,” said Kahne, who notes that you have to approach the track with a technical mind because of the seams.
“I’m really excited because I think we’ll be able to drive harder than we’ve ever been able to drive at Fontana in a Sprint Cup car, and I’m really looking forward to that. I think it’s going to be pretty exciting.”
Surprising and Not Surprising: Bristol Food City 500
From the intro songs to the beating and the banging that comes with short-track racing, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 53rd annual Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Surprising: Hendrick Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne is a Bristol victory virgin no more. The driver of the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet scored his first ever win in nineteen races at Thunder Valley and his first win of the young 2013 season.
“This is a big win,” Kahne said. “The whole team was flawless.”
“I feel like for myself it’s a big accomplishment to win here,” Kahne continued. “We’ve prepared pretty hard this year and it feels good to win.”
Not Surprising: Both Busch brothers earned their stripes as ‘come back kids’, overcoming adversity to finish in the top five.
Kyle Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, overcame a speeding penalty to finish second and Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Beautyrest Chevrolet, contended with a loose wheel, as well as some damage to his race car, to battle back to a fourth place finish.
This was Kyle Busch’s second top-10 finish in 2013 and Kurt Busch’s best finish of the 2013 season, as well as his best finish so far with Furniture Row Racing.
“I need to stop getting penalties and stay up front all race,” Kyle Busch said. “I wish there was more to have there. But it’s a good day I guess.”
“Considering how much we had to battle back from adversity today, the finish was even more gratifying” Kurt Busch said. “We battled hard and the poor No. 78 car – she’s used up.”
Kyle Busch is now in the top ten in points and Kurt Busch vaulted from 29th to 16th in the point standings.
Surprising: While Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth have had issues between one another in the past, they had a surprisingly tough encounter on the track at Bristol. With Gordon in the lead and Kenseth right behind, Gordon blew a tire, hit the wall and Kenseth plowed into him from behind after his throttle apparently stuck.
“As soon as I got into the banking, I felt the tire go,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “I really hate that for Kenseth.”
“There was not a lot either of us could do,” the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot/Husky Toyota said. “It will take a lot of Husky tools to fix that thing.”
“We had a great car but we didn’t make it to the end.”
Not Surprising: Yes, it was Bristol and there were some temper flare ups, especially between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, who do have a history with one another.
Hamlin, who had had an eventful week deciding not to appeal his $25,000 fine from NASCAR, got a bit peeved with Joey Logano and ended up turning his former teammate and sending him spinning.
The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, finished 23rd and Logano, driving the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, finished 17th.
“Really, you’ve got to control your car and he slid up in front of me,” Hamlin said. “I meant to run into him but didn’t mean to spin him out.”
“We finished bad. He finished bad,” Hamlin continued. “It’s even.”
“That’s a freaking genius behind the wheel of the 11 car – probably the worst teammate I ever had, so I learned that now,” Logano said. “He decided to run in the back of me, so whatever.”
“I have a scorecard and I’m not putting up with that,” Logano continued. “What goes around comes around.”
And yes, the disagreement spilled over into Twitter-world, first with Logano tweeting, “Hey @dennyhamlin great job protecting that genius brain of yours by keeping your helmet on” and Hamlin responding, “Last time I checked he had my cell and direct message button to choose from if he’s got a problem. Otherwise hush little child.”
Surprising: It was a surprisingly difficult day for the drivers of the cereal cars, with Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Cheerios Chevrolet, and Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Kellogg’s/Frosted Flake Ford Fusion, involved in an early wreck.
Burton finished 32nd while Edwards soldiered on, in spite of being ill most of the race and reportedly throwing up in his car, to finish 18th.
“I have to thank the infield medical folks and folks with NASCAR medical,” Edwards said. “They really helped me out a lot today.”
“That’s the most miserable race I’ve ever been through, but there was a little bit of satisfaction to come back and finish 18th.”
Not Surprising: Brad Keselowski, who finished third in the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion and now leads in the point standings, was not satisfied in the least.
“We weren’t close at the start but at the end, the car was pretty good,” Keselowski said. “The 2 team did a great job adjusting on the car during the race. “
“We’ve been so damn close and just haven’t sealed the deal.”
Surprising: In spite of bringing out the first caution with a flat tire, spin and a wreck, Tony Stewart still managed to keep his sense of humor throughout the rest of the race.
On lap 254 with only half of the race completed, Stewart radioed in to his ailing crew chief Steve Addington to say, “The good news is that it’s halfway over.”
Addington, who was battling the flu, replied simply, “Don’t make me laugh too hard right now.”
Not Surprising: While he may not have been stellar, he has been consistent so far in the 2013 season. Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished sixth and is just nine points behind Keselowski, sitting second in the point standings.
The driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet solely credits the consistent performance to crew chief Steve Letarte, who Earnhardt Jr. referred to after the race as ‘magic man.’
“I have to give all the credit to Steve Letarte,” Junior said. “He made a couple, two, three great pit calls there at the end and gave us the opportunity to get some guys on old tires and beat a few guys that we probably weren’t going to beat.”
“Great call by him.”
Surprising: There were some surprising names in the top ten when the checkered flag waved at Bristol, including Brian Vickers, Paul Menard and Jamie McMurray.
“Honestly after today, it felt like a win,” Vickers, driver of the No. 55 RK Motors Toyota, said. “We had some damage but got that fixed and we got back to the top 10.”
Not Surprising: In spite of a stellar Daytona, Danica Patrick has continued to struggle at the tracks following the season kick off. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, finished 28th at Bristol, several laps down.
“We just never really got it completely freed up like we needed to,” Patrick said. “It was better later in the race, but by then the damage was done.”
Patrick is looking forward to the next race at Fontana, in spite of never having driven a Cup car at that track before.
“There are a lot of things that I have to work on at this point in time,” Patrick said. “The most important thing is to find a decent balance to start off the race so that we don’t drop back.”
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol
Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.
1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished third at Bristol and snatched the points lead from Jimmie Johnson, who finished 22nd, two laps down. Keselowski now leads Dale Earnhardt, Jr. by nine.
“I finished the race sandwiched between the two Busch brothers,” Keselowski said, “which is like being between a rock and a hard head. Many have often said that a ‘championship’ might someday come between the Busch brothers. Thanks to me, it just did.”
2. Kasey Kahne: Kahne wrested the lead from Brad Keselowski on a lap 460 restart and pulled away for the win in the Food City 500, Kahne’s first win at Bristol.
“The No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet was amazing,” Kahne said, “and just a hair better than everyone else. In honor of the track they call the ‘Bull Ring’ and in honor of my current favorite sponsor, I plan to get a ‘bull cut.’”
3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt posted his fourth top-10 finish of the year with a sixth at Bristol. He moved up one spot to second in the Sprint Cup point standings and now trails Brad Keselowski by nine.
“They call this a ‘promising’ start,” Earnhardt said, “mostly because I can’t ‘promise’ it will continue.”
4. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson hammered the wall with 46 laps to go at Bristol and limped home to a 22nd in the Food City 500. He tumbled from the top of the Sprint Cup point standings and is now in third, 15 behind Brad Keselowski.
“Like Joey Logano,” Johnson said, “I hit the wall on Sunday. Unlike Logano, I didn’t go talk to one after the race. This Logano-Denny Hamlin feud could potentially come to a head, but I doubt it. Their threats were much like Bristol’s seats on Sunday—empty.”
5. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin was headed for a likely top-5 finish at Bristol, but cut a tire with eight laps to go and scraped the wall continuously as he struggled to a 23rd-place finish. Afterwards, Hamlin was accosted by former teammate Joey Logano, who was spun into the wall by Hamlin earlier.
“Look at this,” Hamlin said. “Just four races in, and Logano’s dying to get back in a Toyota.
“I’m not in the least bit afraid of Logano. They call him ‘Sliced Bread,’ but there’s certainly no yeast in that bread, because Logano’s never ‘risen’ to anything, much less a challenge.”
6. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished fifth in the Food City 500, posting his first top-5 of the year. He improved five spots in the point standings to fourth, and now trails Brad Keselowski by 38.
“’It’s Bristol! They’re fighting!’ I famously quoted after the race,” Bowyer said. “That makes me the ‘ring announcer.’”
7. Kyle Busch: Busch registered his second straight top-5 finish with a runner-up at Bristol. He jumped seven spots in the point standings to 10th, and is now 51 out of first.
“No one enjoyed my spirited battle with Brad Keselowski more than me,” Busch said. “Brad famously called me an ‘ass’ once at Bristol; in case he’d forgotten, I gave him a good look at it on Sunday.”
8. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth was running second when leader Jeff Gordon blew a tire and collected Kenseth’s No. 20 Chevrolet, eliminating them both from the race. Kenseth finished 35th and is now 63 out of the lead in the points standings.
“Take it from Clint Bowyer,” Kenseth said. “’Following’ Jeff Gordon can only lead to bad things for both teams in the garage.”
9. Carl Edwards: Edwards struggled in the Food City 500, finishing one lap down in 18th. He is now seventh in the point standings, 42 out of first.
“I was ill for most of the race,” Edwards said. “I said ‘Aflac’ several times during the race, but it had nothing to do with supplemental insurance. At least for a day, the Aflac mascot was no longer a duck, but a ‘yak.’”
10. Greg Biffle: Biffle finished 11th at Bristol, posting Roush Fenway’s top finish. He is now fifth in the point standings, 40 out of first.
“There are power couples,” Biffle said, “like Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. And there are power couples, like Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn. I find it refreshing that Woods has gone public with a relationship, this time on purpose.”
Fourth Cup Car On the Horizon for JGR
Today, NASCAR is all about young talent. Every team and team owner wants the next Dale Earnhardt. The next Dale Earnhardt is very hard to come by unless you give the young driver a chance in your equipment and to have that driver prove that they have what it takes to succeed. No other team currently in NASCAR has as much talent and young superstars coming up through NASCAR’s ranks than Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). JGR has lots of young talent and a potential fourth Cup ride which could be driven by any of JGR’s new and young talent.
Over the past few seasons, JGR has been adding new drivers and especially new and young drivers. From Darrell Wallace Jr., to now Erik Jones; JGR is stacking up on the young talent. Through JGR’s partnership with Kyle Busch, JGR is able to put their young talents including Wallace Jr., and Jones in Kyle Busch Motorsports rides. This allows JGR to continue stacking their driver lineup by adding new drivers. JGR has used various drivers over the years to run a race or two in a JGR Nationwide Series car and those drivers are then loyal to JGR and they will stick around while they wait for something more from JGR. All of these talents are progressing right now and soon, they could be going after a fourth JGR Cup car.
JGR has said nothing about having a fourth Cup car but, with all of the drivers they currently have running in their lower-series’, why not throw out the potential of getting a fourth Cup car up and running with sponsorship permitting? One of the multiple drivers JGR currently has under their belt surely will emerge as the next Cup Series hopeful and then JGR will attempt to put them in the team’s fourth Cup car. While JGR’s young talent emerges, it would be a smart thing for Joe Gibbs and everyone at JGR to start thinking about a fourth Cup car.
Many people will ask, why not just replace a current JGR Cup driver with one of these young and new talents? One problem in this situation is that JGR has too much talent in the Cup Series right now to just go give one of those drivers away. In the near future, JGR shouldn’t be giving away Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin or Matt Kenseth for the reason being they are currently three of the best drivers in the Cup Series. For one of JGR’s prospects to move up to the Cup Series when they are ready, JGR will need to field a fourth car. It’s easy to say but, much harder to accomplish since money is the one thing separating JGR from having three Cup cars and having four.
The current prospects at JGR could be great marketing prospects and therefore, JGR could probably easily find a sponsor for one of them. Darrell Wallace Jr. is a very marketable since many view him as a role-model since he has been one of the few African-American’s to succeed in NASCAR. To add to that, Wallace Jr. has a great personality that could easily promote someone’s product. Wallace Jr. seems like a great marketing deal just waiting to happen and once Wallace Jr. can gain some more NASCAR experience, he could easily find a sponsor and be put in a fourth JGR Cup car.
The Cup stable at JGR is bound to grow in the near future. With the young talent JGR has acquired and put in the lower NASCAR ranks, they should definitely have a future Cup superstar emerge from the vast list of driver’s names they currently have. Money could be the one thing holding JGR back from entering four Cup cars but, many of the drivers in their stable could be great marketers for a product. By the time these young drivers gain some more valuable NASCAR experience that no one can ever take away, they will be ready for the Cup level. JGR may have a fight between these drivers on their hands for that fourth Cup car but, this a good fight since it could involve a tremendous amount of talent. Watch out for one of these young drivers JGR has to be in Cup one day and giving JGR a fourth shot at the championship each season.
