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Kahne says Gillett Evernham Motorsports has improved since 2007
By SceneDaily Staff
Friday, May 09, 2008
Chris Trotman
Getty Images for NASCAR
DARLINGTON, S.C. – When Kasey Kahne looks at Gillett Evernham Motorsports, and particularly his own NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, he sees quite a bit of improvement over the past season.
While he says that his group still has a ways to go in terms of improvement, the driver is in much better standing entering Saturday night’s race at Darlington Raceway than he was this time a year ago.
Entering this race weekend in 2007, Kahne was 32nd in the driver standings, with only one top-10 finish to his credit. Now, Kahne is 12th in the standings – a spot that would put him in the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup – with five top-10 finishes in the opening 10 races.
“Last year this time, we were the eighth-best team,” Kahne said comparing the two seasons. “I’d say now we are about the sixth-best team. We’ve come a little ways. I’m not sure that’s the best way to categorize it, but I think we’ve gained a little bit. We haven’t gained as much as we need to, but we definitely gained something.”
He says that he can tell a difference in the car and that the team has made some good progress, but that it’s still not quite at the level of the top outfits yet.
Kahne hopes he can build on momentum and past successes this weekend. He has three pole positions at Darlington Raceway and will have the chance to go for a fourth today at 5:15 p.m. EDT.
He thinks that if he can get a top starting spot, he can run well in Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500. The keys to racing well at
Darlington sound simple, but they never are on this tight track.
“Just don’t hit he wall,” he said. “I think every car on the track is going to hit [the wall]; it’s just how hard everyone is going to hit it,” he said. “It’s a pretty tough track. It’s fast. It’s really going to be tough to pass. I think the key is mainly how hard you’re going to hit it, that’s a big thing.”
That will be even more difficult because the repaved surface could lead to single-file racing.
“Basically it’s going to be real hard to pass. It’s so fast, and there is so little room,” he said. “You move around a little bit, and your car is a lot tighter, and your car doesn’t turn as good. There is a certain spot that you need your car to be in, and if you can’t be there, you feel like you’re going to get a spot taken from you.”
Mentioned Drivers: Kasey Kahne
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6492 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -108 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -169 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | -211 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -285 |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -289 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -321 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | -352 |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | -411 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | -476 |
| 11 | Carl Edwards | -520 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -666 |
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