Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
· Kasey Kahne returns to Pocono Raceway as the defending winner of the Pocono 500. After starting from the pole, Kahne led 69 laps en route to his first victory at the 2.5-mile track.
· This weekend will mark Kahne’s 11th career start at Pocono Raceway.
· In 10 starts at Pocono, Kahne has one win, two top-five and four top-10 finishes.
· Kahne holds the track qualifying record at Pocono with a speed of 172.533 mph at a time of 52.164 seconds.
· Kahne sits in 14th, 66 points outside the coveted 12th-place position, in the NASCAR championship driver point standings.
Kahne Discusses Racing in the Pocono 500:
Q: What are the keys to success at Pocono?
Kasey Kahne: “The straight-aways are so long, you need to get all of the speed down them that you can so your car can come off of turn three as fast as possible. I’ve always liked the uniqueness of the three different corners and the challenge that it presents to the teams to set up your car to be fast at each of the different ends.”
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Q: You’re 14th in points; can you talk about the importance of this race?
Kasey Kahne: “Pocono is one of our better tracks. I feel like we have as good a shot to win as anybody this weekend. I think we have a great team and we’ve made some gains in the past few weeks. We’ve been running well and have had some great races, some tough races. We still have a shot to make the Chase and have some good race tracks coming up for us.”
Q: Is there something about momentum that propels a team to success every weekend?
Kasey Kahne: “Momentum is good – it’s confidence. It’s good for a driver, good for the team, and good for the people back in the shop. You could lose 50-straight races and win one and it’s like you forget about all that stuff. I think winning races and running up front is as much of a confidence and momentum builder that you can have in racing.”
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