Need for speed: Kasey Kahne settles for third-place Charlotte finish
Richard Petty Motorsports' Kasey Kahne finished third in the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway Saturday. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
CONCORD, N.C. – For a while on Saturday night, Kasey Kahne appeared poised to recapture the magic he’s found so often at Lowe’s Motor Speedway the last few years.
Kahne ultimately had to settle for a third-place finish in the NASCAR Banking 500, however, as his Dodge didn’t have the speed to match race winner Jimmie Johnson on a flurry of late restarts.
Kahne's run was still enough to garner the attention of Johnson, who trailed Kahne's No. 9 car before beating Kahne off pit road with just under 50 laps to go.
"The 9 car I thought was probably the most competitive car all night long," Johnson said. "Maybe a little slow on some of the restarts, but once we got eight, ten laps into the race he'd have three or four tenths on guys often. I thought he had the best car throughout the night."
The race was slowed by four cautions in the last 50 laps, which didn't play in Kahne's favor.
“I always have a problem when I start off the front row, this whole year, with restarts, and I just spin my tires,” he said. “I try not to give it throttle and don't spin my tires, and I get pushed from behind. So I have a problem with it.”
Kahne paced the field twice for a total of 67 laps but never led again after losing the lead to Johnson on the final pit sequence.
Kahne lined up third behind the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Johnson and Jeff Gordon on the last restart with 17 laps left and made up no ground as far as his position. He passed Gordon but got passed by Roush Fenway Racing’s Matt Kenseth.
“We were up there, Matt was up there, another couple other guys that seemed to be there all night,” Kahne said. “Jimmie was one of them. And we just weren't good enough that final run. We were one of the best ‑ the best car at times throughout the night, but the final run when it counted we weren't, and Jimmie showed up and beat us all.”
It was a bittersweet ending for Kahne, who came into the night with three wins and six top-10s in 11 points races at LMS. Kahne moved up two positions to ninth in the Chase For The Sprint Cup standings but lost ground to leader Johnson, who holds a whopping 331-point cushion over Kahne in the standings.
“It's definitely not over,” Kahne said. “I mean, anything can happen the rest of the year. But if it doesn't, I think Jimmie is the guy to beat.”
