Richard Petty Motorsports' Kasey Kahne suffers engine woes at New Hampshire
Richard Petty Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne blows an engine during the Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
LOUDON, N.H. – Richard Petty Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne was the first Chase For The Sprint Cup driver to have trouble in the final 10 races, blowing an engine in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Kahne felt the engine in his No. 9 Dodge running rough down the backstretch on lap 66, and then it let go a half-lap later.
“It’s upsetting,” Kahne said. “It’s better than last week, I guess. Last week, we wouldn’t be in the Chase. We just have to work extra hard now. I don’t know how this all works. You never know in the Chase if you can have a mulligan or not.
“This team’s done a nice job. We’ll be 12th when we leave here. Hopefully, we can make gains.”
Kahne finished 38th, falling from fifth in the points to the 12th and final Chase position.
He trails leader Mark Martin by 161 points heading in to next weekend's race at Dover International Speedway after entering New Hampshire just 20 points out of the lead.
“We’re going to have to win to get extra points and do everything we can now to fight back from this,” Kahne said.
