You finished second at MIS in June. What are your expectations going into this weekend’s race?
Kasey Kahne: “Michigan has been a good track for us. I’ve run second here and we’ve won here. We had a real loose racecar back in June and we just tried to keep fixing it and getting the car better and we did at the end of the race. The final run was the best that our Budweiser Dodge was all day. We’re taking the same car back this weekend that we raced in June so I’m looking forward to another solid finish.”
Michigan Races tend to turn into fuel mileage races, can you talk about the confidence that you have in Kenny Francis when it comes to those decisions.
Kasey Kahne: “I have a lot of confidence in Kenny (Francis) and all the calls he makes, especially with tires and fuel. We played the fuel mileage game here in June and it worked out in our favor. The guys keep working on our fuel mileage program with our Dodge and we continue to improve.”
How important is the Chase standings to you right now?
Kasey Kahne: “As a driver, you watch the point standings each week - you can’t help but to pay attention to it. We’ve been seventh-12th the last month or two, or kind of all year, we’ve been in that area. So that’s a spot that you as a driver - I mean, you have to really be on it. You know there are cars coming from behind. There are cars in front of you that you can pass or that are going to pull away. So, it’s tough. And the Chase is the main goal of the season. We need to be in the Chase and we need to be in there for Budweiser and everybody that’s part of this Gillett Evernham Team. It doesn’t matter if we’re running 20th or 30th, we have to finish the race and get all the points we can, and at the end of the day, hopefully we make the Chase. That’s our goal. We’re going to do everything we can to be in the Chase.”
Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
· This weekend will mark Kasey Kahne’s 10th career start at Michigan International Speedway (MIS).
· In nine starts at Michigan, Kahne has one win, five top-five and five top-10 finishes.
· After starting from the pole, Kahne led 19 laps en route to his first victory at MIS in 2006.
· In nine starts at MIS, Kahne has an average start of 12th and an average finish of 14th.
· Kahne currently occupies the eighth position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He is 107 points ahead of 13th place Clint Bowyer.
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