Kahne finishes second in bid for Lowe’s sweep

Posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 9:02 PM EDT.

Kasey Kahne’s bid to become the first driver in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history to complete a sweep of all three races in the same season at Lowe’s Motor Speedway came up just short in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500.

Kahne, winner of the Sprint All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 in May, finished second in the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger behind Jeff Burton in the 334-lap, 500-mile event. At times, it didn’t look as if Kahne would have a chance to challenge for his third win of the year at the 1.5-mile oval. He had to battle back from a lap deficit, but once he was back with the leaders, good pit strategy provided the track position he needed to challenge the leaders.

“We kind of battled with the car all night,” said Kahne. “We kept battling and got our lap back. We got up to seventh and just took right sides (tires) there at the end and got better track position and started to figure it out. My car was changing a ton throughout the runs. I’d start out tight or loose and then it would go opposite throughout the runs. I’m glad to finish where we did. We had a nice try at catching the 31 – he was fast. We tried. We just didn’t get to him. It was still a good run for our Budweiser Dodge and our first top-five in a while, so that feels pretty good.”

It was Kahne’s 13th top-10 finish of the season.

Kurt Busch, running the new Dodge R6P8 engine for the second time (it debuted in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger at Kansas Speedway), finished third. It was Busch’s best finish since his win at New Hampshire in June.

“Man, we had a good run,” said Busch. “I’m real surprised by it. We mixed the 77 set up with the 12. We tested so poorly here with the Miller Lite Dodge; we couldn’t run what the 2 car had. It feels real good to have team communication and bring all this together. This is the first time for the new engine, the R6 in the top five. We were pushing hard trying to get numbers on it (the new engine) for next year. It’s just a big rebound from where we were in Kansas a few weeks ago. It feels really good for all of our sponsors, Mobil 1, Dodge and especially Miller Lite.”

“It was great to see the front and sniff a little bit of the lead of the race with 25 (laps) to go. It’s a good feeling to know that it (race win) was right there and we ended up with a solid finish. Racing in the top five we haven’t done as of late. We put the 77 (car) setup in. We put some 12 car geometry in the front (of the car). We adjusted on it like the 2 car knows how to do. The Penske Racing effort is showing signs of communication and strength in moving forward. Secondly, this was the second race for the R6P8 engine and I felt confident in it with the power that it gave me and the reliability that it showed me. Overall, a great group effort from Penske and I’m happy to finish third with the Miller Lite Dodge.”

Reed Sorenson was the third Dodge driver among the 16 that finished on the lead lap. Sorenson was 15th in the No. 41 Target Dodge Charger.

Sorenson led once in the race as did Robby Gordon and Ryan Newman. Unfortunately, both Gordon and Newman encountered problems that nixed good finishes. Gordon had the left front tire go flat just after a green-flag pit stop for right-side tires. He had to return to pit road for repairs to the fender and replace the tire. He finished 30th.

Despite battling a loose racecar, Newman held the point for 10 laps. He finished 21st.

Bobby Labonte was involved in a three-car mishap on lap 206, but managed to finish 17th. Elliott Sadler finished 20th.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 9:02 PM EDT and is filed under Motorsports. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are currently closed.