Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
Kasey Kahne and the No. 9 Budweiser Ford team head west this week to Fontana, Calif., where NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will compete in the Pepsi Max 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
Kahne has enjoyed success at the two-mile track, scoring a pole award for his first race at Auto Club Speedway in 2004. He also earned one of his 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at the track as well. In 13 races at the track, Kahne has taken home three top fives and seven top-10 finishes.
As the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season closes in on the last seven races of the year, Kahne and the No. 9 Budweiser Ford team have earned three pole awards, six top fives and eight top-10 finishes. Kahne is currently ranked 21st in the NSACAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings.
Kasey Kahne Racing’s Joey Saldana was back at the wheel of the No. 9 Budweiser sprint car in World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series competition last weekend at Williams Grove Speedway and scored a seventh-place finish in his first race since suffering a concussion in the Sept. 24 event at Eldora Speedway.
Kasey Kahne discusses racing at Auto Club Speedway:
What are your thoughts on Auto Club Speedway?
“I like California. We’ve usually been pretty strong on that type of track and we’ve had some success there before. It’s definitely good to be going to a track you feel you can run well at.”
Do you compare the racing at Auto Club Speedway 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.”
How physically demanding is racing at Auto Club Speedway?
“I don’t think that it’s too bad. There’s a lot of time at this track where you can relax going down the straightaway a little bit. The corners are so long that you can have a loose car and work through the corners a lot which can wear you out and get your heart rate up. It’s not too bad though, I wouldn’t say that it’s one of the more physically demanding tracks.”
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