Kahne sixth in NASCAR season finale

Posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 11:07 AM EST.

Fuel mileage figured prominently in the finish order of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Two Dodge drivers were on the correct side of the fuel mileage battle while it knocked the third out of a top-10 finish.

Kasey Kahne finished sixth in the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger, his best finish since a runner-up effort at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the 31st race of the 36-race season. It was his 14th top-10 finish of 2008. Kahne’s season includes wins at Lowe’s in the longest race of the season, the 600-mile Coca-Cola 600, and the first stop at Pocono. He also won the Sprint All-Star Race.

“This was a great result for our Budweiser Dodge tonight,” said Kahne. “The crew guys did a great job and Kenny (Francis, Team Director) made a great call to get us track position and give us a top 10. We didn’t have the fastest car during the heat of the day, but once the sun went down and the track tightened up, we seemed to get faster and faster. To get a top-10 at Homestead at the last race of the season is a great way to end the year.

“We’ve got some work to do heading into next year. I don’t think that we’re far off when you look at some of the other cars that are out here; I really don’t think that they’re a whole lot faster than our Budweiser Dodge. We have to keep working on our car and try to make it better….faster. If we can find a way to make the front-end of our cars better, I think that we’ll close the gap on the teams competing for the championship.”

Kahne ends up 14th in the season point standings, best among the 11 Dodge drivers.

AJ Allmendinger finished 11th in the No. 10 Valvoline Dodge, the best finish of the season for the Gillett Evernham Motorsports entry. Allmendinger ran as high as fifth in the event and stayed on the lead lap throughout the 267-lap event.

“It was a good night finishing 11th (best finish of the season for the No. 10 Dodge from GEM), but it was a long hard-fought night,” said Allmendinger. “We started off loose, but the car got tight as night fell. We could never get that out of it. At the end there, I think we saved too much fuel. They (the crew) were a little nervous making sure I was going to make it. I probably could have gone a little earlier and got a couple more spots. Overall, from where we started and the kind of weekend we had, tonight was great. Everybody at Gillett Evernham does a good job. They build good cars. Hopefully, this relationship can continue next year.”

Juan Pablo Montoya ran in or near the top 10 throughout the race, but needed a late-race stop for fuel and finished 17th. Only 18 of the 43 starters finished on the lead lap.

Ryan Newman finished 17th in the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger in his final race for Penske Racing. He leaves the Dodge ranks for another team in 2009. In 260 starts, he posted 13 wins and had 63 top-five and 106 top-10 finishes. He started from the pole 43 times.

“The way that we ran tonight, I’m glad that the season is over,” said Newman. “Despite our run tonight, I’m very, very grateful for the opportunity that Roger (Penske) has given me over the last several years. The friendships and relationships that I’ve made over the last several years are priceless. To win the Daytona 500 for Roger is something that I’ll never forget. Our year ended in a struggle, but my entire Alltel Dodge team fought every race to get the best finish that we could. I want to wish Kurt (Busch) and Sam (Hornish Jr.) and all the guys the best as I transition into a new race team.”

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Dennis Setzer, driving the No. 18 Dodge Ram, started fifth and finished fifth in the season finale for the Craftsman Truck Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday night. Setzer ends up eighth in the season point standings.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 11:07 AM EST and is filed under Motorsports. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are currently closed.