Kahne looks to bounce back from Sonoma disappointment
By SceneDaily Staff
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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Kasey Kahne had high hopes for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Infineon Speedway after winning his first road-course pole, but he ended up 33rd with an ill-handling car.
Kahne hopes to bounce back from that disappointing finish with a solid performance in this weekend’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“It was frustrating to say the least, to start on the pole and then finish 33rd,” Kahne said. “Sonoma is always tough for us, and it seemed like if it could go wrong, it did last Sunday.
“But this week is a new week, and we’re going to a track that’s been pretty good to us over the years. We really haven’t had too many cars capable of winning at Loudon, but we’ve usually been good enough to run in the top 10 or top 15. This weekend, it’s going to be important for us to get some of the momentum back.”
Kahne had finished first and second in his two races before Infineon, but the last time he finished worse than 30th (a 31st at Dover), he bounced back to win at Pocono Raceway.
Kahne is ninth in the Sprint Cup standings, but he’s only 68 points ahead of 13th-place Kevin Harvick with 10 races left for the Chase For The Sprint Cup, where 12 drivers battle for the 2008 championship.
“I’m not super-comfortable with where we are at in the points,” Kahne said. “We definitely need to keep staying after it and keep gaining points and doing everything we can to stay in the top 12. We definitely have a lot of work to get in, and there are a lot of good cars still on the outside and right behind us. We need to keep working. There are a lot of good tracks coming up for us. We’ve been fast at a lot of the upcoming tracks.”
Kahne said he doesn’t try to race against the drivers around him in the Cup standings.
“All I look at is our performance in the Budweiser Dodge and what we need to work on each day,” Kahne said. “We have to focus on the best job that we can do and get the best finish that we can get. Whether that’s a 30th, 20th or first place, it doesn’t matter to me.
“If its 30th, it’s not what we’re looking for, but 30th is better than 35th. We just have to get our best finish – every single weekend at every single race. If we do that, I think that we’ll have a really good shot at making the Chase.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Kasey Kahne
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