Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
· This weekend will mark Kasey Kahne’s 10th start at Martinsville Speedway.
· Kahne has an average start of 24th and an average finish of 17th at Martinsville.
· Kahne has one top-five and two top-10 finishes at the half-mile short track in Martinsville. His best finish of second came in the spring of 2005.
· In nine starts at Martinsville Speedway, Kahne has only one DNF. He was unable to finish in the spring of 2006 due to an engine failure.
· Kahne is currently 14th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He trails 13th-place David Ragan by 86 points.
Q&A With Kasey Kahne
Question: What are your thoughts on racing at Martinsville this weekend?
Kasey Kahne: “I haven’t had the best luck racing there in the past, but Kenny (Francis, crew chief) has given me very competitive racecars this year and I’m looking forward to leaving Martinsville with a solid finish. Martinsville is definitely a challenging race – 500 laps in heavy traffic from start to finish. Patience is essential, but you still have to be aggressive to stay up front. It’s typical short-track racing.”
Question: Do you know in the first practice session if you’re going to be competitive that weekend?
Kasey Kahne: “You usually have a pretty good idea right away in practice. You either feel that you have a competitive racecar or that you have work to do to make the car faster. From there, the first couple laps of the race it’s always a big question mark. Once you run three or four laps you’re like, ‘We’re going to have a shot today.’ You know how competitive you are going to be as soon as you get inside the racecar.”
Question: How important was your second-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway?
Kasey Kahne: “It was a great finish for me personally and the entire Gillett Evernham team. We needed a good top-five, close-to-a-win type finish at LMS. We haven’t had one of those in a while. It’s been a rough few months, but we’ll go to Martinsville and hopefully capitalize on our momentum.”
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