Raising Kahne

NASCAR: Penalties

2009-11-12T10:44:00.002-05:00

Okay so if you've been keeping up with the Nationwide Series as of late you would already be aware NASCAR penalized Kyle Busch for "improperly attached weight" following the end of the race at Texas. 25 driver and owner points. Hmmm I bet Kyle is really scared now that his point lead is down to 247! Look out Kyle! This weekend at Phoenix if he has a good enough run he can clinch the Nationwide Series title. Now here's my problem... NASCAR why in high heavens would you penalize a driver 25 measly points if it's not going to even matter...? I understand a rule is a rule, but unless your going to significantly penalize a driver so that it will actually MATTER don't make it news... leave it alone. Your little 25 point slap on the butt isn't going to make Kyle have to fight any harder... my solution, start racking up the consequences for rule infractions. Instead of 25 points, make it 100. Just sayin'....

The Chase: 2009 Edition

2009-11-12T06:54:00.002-05:00

Yes... I'm aware I haven't been writing for the past few weeks. Forgive me. Even I get so busy I just forget or never have the time to get around to it... with that said, let's get started!

So a lot of fans aren't really in favor of the "Chase" format and some are. I'm on the fence about it myself. It seems as if we have more consistent champions instead of a variety. That's what us fans like, variety. I'm pretty sure I'm NOT the only guy around who's tired of the Jimmie Johnson Show. No I'm not complaining. It's just true. I won't disagree the man has an AMAZING amount of talent, but at the same time... I don't think any of us care anymore at this point. Sunday when Johnson crashed on Lap 3 of the Dickies 500 the fans went wild. It was the best moment of 2009. It takes the fun and excitement out of NASCAR knowing who the Champion will be. Most NASCAR fans want it to be a nail-biter to the very last lap. Heck even the last second. I'm one of those people. Before Texas Jimmie had this thing in the bag, and even WITH the decreased points lead I still kind of think Jimmie can pull it off. I really can't think of a way to fix this problem either... maybe changing the points system back to the old way would help... some have even said adopt the F1 points system. But NASCAR has to do something because ratings and viewers are dropping like acorns in the fall (lame... I know).

Okay, now to the point of this blog... KASEY KAHNE!

Kahne made the Chase. Great. I'm one of his biggest fans I couldn't be happier... but dang it what good is it if the engines and other parts are going to fail? May as well not be in the Chase at all. I'm very happy he's making the move to Ford next year. More horsepower and more reliability. Two things you DON'T have with a Dodge. I have never and don't plan to get behind the wheel of a Dodge. They are the worst car on the road. I've had Fords all my life and it shall remain that way. Despite the issues with the engines Kasey has done darn well to recover and still remain in the Top 10 to hopefully make it to the NASCAR Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas. After New Hampshire I knew his Chase hopes were only a dream... but I just wanted him to make it to the Banquet in the first place. I knew a Championship would be a hard match because he'd be fighting the all-mighty Hendrick stable. When somebody can beat Rick Hendrick's equipment, call me.

NASCAR Hall of Fame

2009-10-14T22:49:00.002-04:00

Normally I only write about Kasey Kahne, but today History was made so it deserves a blog of it's own. After all these years with all other sports having a Hall of Fame NASCAR finally stepped up and created one of their own.

As part of the inclusive voting process, more than 670,000 NASCAR fans submitted votes online at NASCAR.COM as part of the fan voting process.

The first class inductee's are: Bill France Sr, Bill France Jr, Junior Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty. All very deserving. The only thing I wish could have been different is have David Pearson take Bill France Jr's place. A lot of people felt the same way. But maybe for next year's ballot David will have another chance.

Every year the ballots will reset and the nominating committee will start with a clean sheet of paper. So some of the guys that was on this years list may not even make it onto next years. A lot of names were left off this years list and I hope next year's has a couple of them. Not only should drivers and owners be inducted, but crew chiefs as well. Without a owner, a driver, or a crew chief none of the amazing accomplishments would be possible. It takes a team effort.

I also must say while I'm not an Earnhardt fan I was very pleased to see him make it in the first go around. The guy was on a record setting pace before he was taken from us and I have a feeling he wasn't done setting records just yet. It was also nice to see Teresa Earnhardt in attendance. She's kept a low profile ever since her husbands death.

The Class of 2010 will be officially inducted in a ceremony on May 23, 2010 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte.

Lowes Motor Speedway Preview

2009-10-14T08:12:00.002-04:00

Kasey Kahne At Lowes Motor Speedway
Starts	Poles	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Led	AVG ST	AVG FN	DNF
11	0	3	4	6	616	10.45	12.36	1
Stats By Racing News Digest

After taking yet another blow to the gut after Sundays race at Auto Club Speedway, which normally suits Kahne fairly well, he couldn't be happier to see the next stop will be Lowes Motor Speedway. Look at the stats above and you will see why. Lowes has been one if not THE best track for Kasey. He basically knows the place like the back of his hand. While winning the Sprint Cup may not be likely it couldn't hurt to try and score some more wins to finish off the season.

Some interesting facts...

1) In 11 starts at LMS, Kahne has an average start of 10th and an average finish of 12th

2) In 2008, Kahne led 66 laps en route to his third career NSCS victory at LMS.

3) Kahne will be running double duty at LMS this weekend. In addition to running the NASCAR Cup Series event on Saturday, Kahne will be competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Friday night driving the No. 43 Dodge.

4) Kahne will be available for interviews with the motorsports media on Thursday at approximately 5 p.m. ET in the infield media center

Kasey Kahne commenting on the Chase and racing at Lowes Motor Speedway: “Unless other people (have problems), these guys run so good…there’s a reason that they’re in the top 12 in points. Every week, the top 10 is eight or nine guys that are in the Chase. If that’s the case and nobody else has problems, then you’re not going to get back in it. You can’t. You lose so many points by running 40th when you have an issue, and we’ve had two DNFs. I think that we need other guys to break, other guys to have a problem. It will kind of put us back in the playing field. If not, top 10s, bonus points, leading laps, winning races…if you can win races, you can gain a good bit of points. You can gain some of that back. And we can get back in the top five I think, but you’re not going to beat Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin if you have a blown engine and they don’t. If they finish every race in the top 10, you’re not going to beat them.”

Kahne on what it takes to run well at Lowes: One of the biggest things for me (at Lowe’s) is that you have to be able to run anywhere on the race track. Your car has to turn really good at certain areas on the track and the front-end has to be in the track. Last year in the October race, the back-end of my car was so far out of the track that the front was still really positive in those areas that I wanted it to be and that really benefited us. We ran second and were pretty darn close to Jeff Burton (race winner). I would say the biggest things is having your front-end really positive at certain load spots on the race track.”
Does your success at LMS give you a little more confidence going into this weekend? “When you’ve been successful at a track like we have here at Lowe’s, you gain a sense of confidence because you understand where to be successful on the racetrack. You still need a good car, but confidence does give you a sense of comfort inside of the racecar.”

Kahne calls out NASCAR for fake "derbis" caution

2009-10-13T13:22:00.003-04:00

The e-mails I'm getting over this is just amazing, so it's worth writing about.

Kasey called out NASCAR Sunday for what he said was a "fake" debris caution.
Now I will agree that there WAS some debris (a water bottle), but it was on the apron on the backstretch! It wasn't in harms way at all. NASCAR could have left everything alone and Kasey would have scored yet another Top 10.

Kahne was visually upset about being caught in 2 seperate wrecks within' 20 laps of each other that occurred thanks to a late caution. Kasey said NASCAR was trying to make up for a boring race by creating some drama with a yellow flag. I'll be honest here. I think they were. They didn't want it to be the "Jimmie Johnson Show" and him win by 12 seconds, so they threw a fake caution to make it interesting. Thanks NASCAR. Your stupid move cost Kahne a Top 10. Proud yet? You wonder why people aren't watching anymore. I can think of plenty of good reasons.

I'm not a Jimmie Johnson or Hendrick fan for that matter, but if a driver is that good that they have a big lead then fine. More power to em'. But don't use a fake caution to get the field back together. Johnson was going to win regardless had they thrown 5 or 6 cautions. But thanks to NASCAR they ruined a lot of people's day. Kahnes included. Not to mention ALL 4 RPM cars alone with some other guys.

Auto-Club Race Review

2009-10-12T00:37:00.002-04:00

Wow... where to start on this one...

It's been a tough week if your a Kasey Kahne fan. Kasey was the very first car to go out for qualifying and ended up mid-pack. Sunday was no better... in fact it was a lot worse.

If Kasey had any hopes of regaining his points from New Hampshire they are surely gone now. Kahne was involved in 2 separate incidents within 20 laps of the checkered flag.
The first one was with 15 laps to go, Kasey was running 7th, Kurt Busch got loose and bounced off the wall and eventually off Kahne sending him spinning into the grass with some damage. After going to pit road to try and repair what damage they could Kasey went out in 23rd position. With 10 laps to go poor Kasey was involved in yet another accident but this time, ending his day. Kasey was visibly upset blaming NASCAR for their "derbis" cautions. "NASCAR threw a debris caution for no debris," Kahne said. "We had a bad race to get a caution to put on a show for the fans."

Entering in 11th place in points 190 points out prior to the incidents, Kahne went home in 11th spot 306 points back. It's safe to say his Championship hopes are over. The best he can do now is make it back inside the Top 10 to go to the Las Vegas Banquet. Non of the bad finishes he's has is his own fault either. Just sorry luck and your gonna have that sometimes. Just part of the game. But regardless myself and all Kahne fans alike should be VERY proud of what he's accomplished this season. There were a lot of people doubting him. Kasey made sure he proved them wrong.

Kasey desperately fighting to get back on track

2009-10-08T01:28:00.002-04:00

Richard Petty Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne is still looking to climb out of the hole from a blown engine in the first race in the Chase For The Sprint Cup, and this weekend’s Pepsi 500 could be a good place to do it. Why you ask? Just look at his record there.

1 Victory.
3 Top 5's
7 Top 10's

While rallying back to win the Championship is basically long gone just due to the fact he's so behind and really can't challenge the Hendrick stable to much leaves Kahne fighting for a Top 5 finish in points before the season is over. Kasey is only 99 points behind fifth-place Kurt Busch.

“Fontana is a good place for us,” Kahne said of the 2-mile track. “The track has always treated us really well with results. We seem to have a pretty good package there every time we go with Kenny Francis and the things that he does there."

After California, the Chase moves to Lowe’s Motor Speedway, where Kahne has a pretty good record, too

“I think we run pretty well in these upcoming Chase races,” Kahne said. “We have as good a shot as anybody at these tracks because they’re tracks I enjoy and we’ve always raced pretty well at. If you have an issue, you lose points. If I didn’t have an issue in New Hampshire, I think that I would have run in the top 10, and these upcoming races we can do the same thing.

“We have a great package for most of these tracks. I think we'll do it; we just need to keep pulling it together and get these points back. I think we have a shot at getting a lot of them back.”

Auto Club Speedway: Preview

2009-10-06T23:16:00.003-04:00

Kasey Kahne At Auto Club Speedway
Starts	Poles	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Led	AVG ST	AVG FN	DNF
11	1	1	3	7	268	9.36	13.00	2
Stats By Racing News Digest

• Kasey Kahne gained one position in the point standings after his sixth-place finish at Kansas Speedway last weekend. He moved into the 11th position and gained ground on the top-10 drivers. In the next two weeks, Kahne will compete at his two strongest racetracks looking to crack the top 10 in the standings.
• In 11 starts at California, Kahne has one win, three top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
• In 2006, Kahne led 130 laps at California en route to his sixth career NSCS victory.
• Kahne has finished no worse than 13th at Auto Club Speedway during the races in which he has finished. He has two DNFs at California as a result of an engine failure (spring 2007) and an accident (spring 2005).
• In 11 starts at California, Kahne has an average start of ninth and an average finish of 12th.
• Kahne will be available for interviews with the motorsports media on Friday at approximately 1:30 p.m. in the infield press conference room.

Do you feel like you still have a shot to win the Championship? “We’re definitely in a hole, that’s part of it. Hopefully everybody has a bad race and if not, if some of them do and we gain some points back and just do the best job that we can. At this point, all that we can do is try hard; keep working hard on our cars and engines. I’ll keep working on my driving. I think that we’ll be alright. We’ll gain some spots back.”

You’ve mentioned recently that you lean on Kenny Francis for support. “Kenny is a great leader, he takes care of everyone on the 9 team and the entire team leans on him. When you have that type of leadership it makes everything run so much smoother. Kenny is one of the most focused guys I have ever met and he makes you want to work that much harder.”

Statistically, the next two tracks (Fontana and Charlotte) are two of your best. “I think we run pretty well in these upcoming Chase races. We have as good a shot as anybody at these tracks because they’re tracks I enjoy and we’ve always raced pretty well at. If you have an issue, you lose points. If I didn’t have an issue (in New Hampshire), I think that I would have run in the top 10 and these upcoming races we can do the same thing. We have a great package for most of these tracks. I think we'll do it; we just need to keep pulling it together and get these points back. I think we have a shot at getting a lot of them back.”

Do you compare the racing at California to any other tracks?"It's hard to compare tracks to each other. I think California was built to be like Michigan but they're pretty different tracks. California doesn't have a lot of banking but it is a pretty fast track. I think, like every track, getting the car to handle in the corners is the biggest thing. It's a two-mile track and the front and back stretches are pretty long.”

Kansas Review

2009-10-05T00:46:00.004-04:00

Kasey Kahne finished sixth in Sunday's Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway, but he actually lost a point in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup.

Kasey moved up to 11th in Sprint Cup Series points, but fell back to 190 points behind current leader Mark Martin.

Despite those two things Kahne had a very strong run Sunday, running in the top 5 for the second half in the race. Kasey really didn't have an ill handling car all day, but did have to make some minor adjustments here and there.

"We got off a little bit, but the last two runs, last 100 laps, we were a top-three or -four car," he said. "The two tires didn’t help us at the end. We thought more would take two. It seemed to work for some earlier in the race. Looking back, we probably should have taken four. Maybe we could have been in the top five with four. We decided on that together."

Kasey struggled on restarts so the late race cautions didn't favor the #9 Budweiser team.

"Kasey worked hard driving the car," crew chief Kenny Francis said. "It came down to strategy there at the end. It’s tough to know what to do. Two tires had worked good for a lot of guys all day. We hadn’t tried it all day, but thought, 'Well, let’s go ahead and try it even though there were a lot of laps left.' It got us up front track-position wise. We had been running third to fourth and that moved us up to second. Too many of the others took four and they just overtook us. Sixth place is a real good finish."

The next stop for the Sprint Cup Series is Fontana (Auto Club Speedway). Kasey has a good record there with: 1 win, 11 top tens, and he has led 268 laps.

"I think we should be good in the final seven races," he said. "We’re definitely a ways back, but we gained a little today."

It's pretty clear his title chances are basically gone. Hendrick is just kicking everyones butt, but despite that Kasey isn't ready to give up yet. He's a fighter and he's not going to go down easy. Anything could happen. Maybe he does have a shot at it after all. Only time will tell. It's going to be difficult, but if anything that's Kasey's strong point... proving people wrong. Before we even reached mid-season people were doubting he'd make the Chase and he went on to do that. A lot of people doubted he'd win. He went on to do it twice and something tells me he's not done proving the critics wrong just yet.

Kansas Preview

2009-09-29T18:00:00.004-04:00

Kasey Kahne At Kansas Speedway
Starts	Poles	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Led	AVG ST	AVG FN	DNF
5	1	0	0	1	50	16.40	18.80	0
Stats By Racing News Digest

Kasey Kahne realizes that he will need to visit victory lane if he wants a shot at gaining ground in the Championship battle. With eight races remaining until the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion is crowned, Kahne points out that top-10 finishes won’t be enough to win the Cup.

“You can’t be conservative and win a championship,” Kahne said. “The bonus points come when you win races. The only shot that you’ve got is to drive your heart out and have your team step up and do their part, otherwise Jimmie Johnson is going to walk all over us.”

Kahne discusses the Chase and racing at Kansas Speedway:
Talk about this weekend’s race at Kansas. “I've qualified well and led laps at Kansas, but I haven't been able to turn it into a good finish. Every time that we go back to Kansas, the racing improves. It’s getting older and the pavement has aged pretty well. There’s lots of racing room. The track lost some grip which is a good thing because we can slide the cars around the corners a little bit easier. I think the fans are going to see a good race. We ran well at Chicagoland this year and that track is pretty similar to Kansas so hopefully we can have that same success this weekend.”

Do you feel like you still have a shot to win the Championship? “We’re definitely in a hole, that’s part of it. Hopefully everybody has a bad race and if not, if some of them do and we gain some points back and just do the best job that we can. At this point, all that we can do is try hard; keep working hard on our cars and engines. I’ll keep working on my driving. I think that we’ll be alright. We’ll gain some spots back.”

You’ve mentioned recently that you lean on Kenny Francis for support. “Kenny is a great leader, he takes care of everyone on the 9 team and the entire team leans on him. When you have that type of leadership it makes everything run so much smoother. Kenny is one of the most focused guys I have ever met and he makes you want to work that much harder.”

Kasey will be running the R5 Dodge Engine for this weekends race at Kansas Speedway strictly because it's more reliable and at this point in the year they simply cannot afford another finish like they did at New Hampshire.

"I think it will be all off the reliability," he said of making the decision on which engine to use. "If they feel they get it back to where it is really reliable like the R5, then I would think we would probably go back to it. What I told them was at the end of the day, we have some points we need to make up and if we have any more issues where we finish outside the top 35 … we have no chance.

"The very little power that you gain with the R6, it's not nearly enough power for me to say, 'Let's take a chance.' We definitely want to be reliable. Maybe we're down a couple of horsepower or something, but that's it, so at the end of the day it's not a big deal."

Dover

2009-09-27T18:18:00.005-04:00

Richard Petty Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne admitted that he was “definitely in a hole"
after last weekend’s engine failure that dropped him to last place among the
12 drivers in NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series action kicked off Friday morning around Lunch time.
Kasey and the #9 Budweiser team decided to work on race-trim for the entire
first practice session which explains why he was 40th fastest if you were watching.
After last weeks mishap Kenny Francis wanted to focus on the Race-Setup knowing they needed the best possible finish to regain as many points as possible. "We worked on some race things. I think we made some good progress." Kahne said after 1st practice had ended.

For Qualifying Kasey drew to go out 26th which is a very good thing. The later you go out
the better because it gives the track a chance to cool down and produce a faster lap time.
"We have a good draw and I think the car will be fast so I'm looking forward to it." Kahne said.

When it finally became Kasey's turn to take a shot at the "Monster Mile" he put down
a pretty darn good lap and qualified 6th. Kasey had this to say after climbing out of his machine.
"A pretty good run for our Budweiser Dodge. It felt a little bit loose, but decent. We gained sixth-tenths from practice which is a nice jump for us. I feel pretty good about it. Our car is pretty fast in race trim."

Final practice was looking a lot better for the 9 Team as they were #1 on the Speed Charts
for pretty much the entire session.

As for last weeks engine woes at New Hampshire Kasey said he had put it all behind him.
In fact he had barely thought of it all week. "I spent all week with my Sprint Car team
and just hanging out with buddies. You can't let stuff like that stick in your head anyway.
There's nothing you can do to change it and it will only mess with your mentality going into
the next race and that's something we don't need. I'm looking forward to going to Dover and
getting back on the right track"

The green flag dropped at 2:15pm and the #9 machine took off like lighting. The car was very good at the beginning of the race with the car only being a little loose. After the competition caution on lap 25 due to rain the 9 Team took 2 right side tires and fuel and a minor air pressure adjustment.

By lap 160 Kahne pitted under caution and said he was pretty happy with the car just needed
the front end to stop hitting the track so Kenny ordered a 'packer' to be put in the right front
to try and help the problem.

Kasey pitting again after Kyle Busch brought out a caution on lap 207 and reported the car was "CRAZY loose" so bad the splitter was hitting the track so Kenny Francis put another packer in the car this time in the Left Front and made a slight wedge adjustment. Despite Kasey not being very happy with the car it was very fast all day and he never fell out of the Top 15.

With 50 to go Kahne's car wasn't handling the way he wanted and the crew had made a few mistakes through-out the day costing him spots on pit road. It didn't look good as all the other
Chase drivers were having strong runs while Kasey was back in 18th after being strong for
most of the day.

By the time there was 20 laps to go Kasey's car came to life and shot up to 8th spot. Despite
his efforts he was not able to pass teammate A.J Allmendinger before the checkered flag
flew. Overall a pretty good day considering the struggles they had. Kasey didn't move up
a spot in points, but he's that much closer to 11th. Hopefully Kansas will go well for him.
Anything can happen. He's not out of this yet.

(I apologize for the way the sentences are lol. Blogger is
just separating them automatically and I can't fix it. I'll try and have
it fixed so next weeks doesn't looked all jacked up.)

New Hampshire

2009-09-24T14:05:00.000-04:00

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 said on Lap 65 the engine started to act funny and sound different. One lap later the engine let go and smoke poured out of the back of the #9 Budweiser Dodge.

"It's upsetting" Kahne said in the garage area.
"Had it happened last week we wouldn't even be in the Chase right now, so better it happen this week than last." Kasey is remaining positive about the whole deal going on to say "We just have to work a little harder now. We can still pull this off. It just won't be easy."

Now onto something else about RPM. A lot of people are saying the engine guys "sabotaged" Kasey. Those engines are built weeks ahead of time. There was no possible way of knowing that the Yates/Petty merger was going to happen and lay off 60 people. It was just a freak coincidence.

Another thing that boils my blood is people saying RPM isn't a good team for Kasey. Now I'm not a fan of Dodge by far so don't get the idea I'm defending them, but they have lost what 2 engines this year? Ford has lost about 6 or 7. Maybe a little bit more. Yes Dodge has ALWAYS lacked Horsepower, but their engines are very reliable and what happened at New Hampshire was unpredictable. I am however happy to see Kahne moving to Ford next year. My only hope is their engines are as reliable as Dodge's are and have a little more Horsepower. Besides if your a Kasey Kahne fan what does it matter what he drives? Your supposed to be a fan of the driver. Not the model or make of the car. As long as Kasey is happy I'm happy.