Kahne confident he can rally back into top 12 of Cup standings
Time is running out for Kasey Kahne.
With just two races left before the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup gets under way, the Gillett Evernham Motorsports driver is 14th in the series standings entering Sunday night’s Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway.
To be a part of the championship-contending group, Kahne needs to overtake two drivers ahead of him in the points. While that may not be easy, California could bode well for Kahne’s bid to rebound from consecutive 40th-place finishes that have sent the driver tumbling six spots in the standings.
Kahne has been the strongest throughout his career on the 1.5- and two-mile tracks similar to Auto Club Speedway. And his nine previous starts at California have produced one win, three top-five finishes and six top-10s.
“I like California,” he said. “We’ve usually been pretty strong on that type of track, and we’ve had some success there before, so coming off of a disappointing weekend at Bristol, it’s definitely good to be going to a track you feel you can run well at.”
Kahne is 56 points behind 12th-place Clint Bowyer and 44 behind 13th-place David Ragan.
“We ran into some problems the last two weeks that set us back,” Kahne said of the engine failure and crash that ruined potentially good finishes at Michigan and Bristol. “I was looking at sixth in points and being able to get there [before the Chase]. Now, we’re a little further behind.
"I’m just excited to be in the position that we’re in. I have a real legitimate shot at making the Chase and a great shot at running well this weekend.”
Kahne is also traditionally strong at Richmond, site of the final race of the regular season. And for that reason, he remains upbeat about his Chase prospects.
“California is a good track for us, and so is Richmond,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to the challenge and seeing how it all works out.”
