Kahne seeks road course season sweep

Posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 11:16 AM EDT.

With five races remaining in the Race for the Chase, Dodge teams travel to upstate New York for the second and final road course race of the season as NASCAR heads to famed Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International for this weekend’s Sprint Cup Series event. Sunday’s race on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course will be the 22nd of 36 point races that make up the 2009 schedule.

Kurt Busch (fourth) and Kasey Kahne (seventh) continue to be Dodge’s strongest Chase contenders as the top-12 drivers in the point standings after 26 races will compete for the championship and the Sprint Cup in the final 10 races of the season.
 
Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger) looks to double up on road course victories this season. Kahne gave Dodge it’s last road course win in June at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. It was Dodge’s second road course win (Juan Pablo Montoya at Infineon in 2007).

The win was Kahne’s first road course victory and 10th Sprint Cup win of his career. Kahne has top-10 finishes in five of the last six races and top 15s in nine of the last 10 Sprint Cup races. Consistency has paid dividends for the Richard Petty Motorsports driver. He’s seventh in the driver point standings, 180 ahead of the 13th-place driver. 
 
“I feel like we’re getting in a better spot (in making the Chase),” Kahne said. “But, you know, last year right before the Chase, we had an engine problem at Michigan. We were running top 10, right around 10th. Then at Bristol, we were running top 10, about eighth, but got in that wreck a few other guys caused on the front stretch that took out eight or 10 cars. We lost a ton of points really quick.

“I feel like if we keep it up, we’re going to be in good shape,” he added. “But things can happen so easily, by your own error or just by racing situations. It’s just the way racing goes. I’ll feel really good if we can have a big lead going into Richmond and we don’t have to worry about it.”
 
Kurt Bush (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) is excited to race the hallowed grounds at The Glen. The race will be the first NASCAR event at Watkins Glen to use double-file restarts. Busch, who had already placed Turn 1 among his top-five “action-packed turns” in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, feels that turn may be worthy of a No. 1 ranking after this weekend.
 
“It’s all relative to the new double-file restarts,” Busch said. “We all saw—and experienced—what the double-file restarts did to the racing at Sonoma. It was wild out there. It bit me, but it worked in our favor late in the race.”
 
Bush enters the race fourth in the Sprint Cup standings and has scored one win, six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes this season.  He has finished 15th or better in 14 of the 20 races in 2009 while leading the field in 12 different races for 368 laps.  The 2004 series champion is seeking his first win at The Glen.
 
Driver standings after 21 races:
(Chase field set following race 26)

Pos., Driver, points, (lead over 13th)
 1. Tony Stewart, 3,188 (726)
  2. Jimmie Johnson, 2,991 (529)
  3. Jeff Gordon, 2,989 (527)
  4. Kurt Busch, 2,751 (289)
  5. Denny Hamlin, 2,713 (251)
  6. Carl Edwards, 2,665 (203)
  7. Kasey Kahne, 2,642 (180)
  8. Juan Montoya, 2,631 (169)
  9. Ryan Newman, 2,627 (165)
10. Mark Martin, 2,622 (160)
11. Matt Kenseth, 2,564 (102)
12. Greg Biffle, 2,563 (101)

Seven Dodge teams are entered at The Glen seeking to give Dodge its 204th victory in NASCAR’s premier series. All seven drivers are assured berths as they sit inside the top 35 in car owner points. Dodge is seeking its first win at The Glen.
 
Other notes
• Elliott Sadler (No. 19 Best Buy Dodge) leads all current Dodge drivers with a best Watkins Glen finish of seventh (2006).
• Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 77 PPG Dodge) earned the first top-five finish (fourth) of his career last weekend at Pocono.
• AJ Allmendinger (No. 44 Stanley Dodge) finished 11th in his only Watkins Glen start.
 
What you need to know
The Race: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen
The Place: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
The Date: Sunday, Aug. 9
The Time: 2 p.m. (EDT)
The Track: 2.45-mile road course
The Distance: 90 laps/220.5 miles
Television: ESPN, 2 p.m. (EDT)

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 11:16 AM EDT and is filed under Chrysler, Dodge, Motorsports. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are currently closed.