No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger Race Facts
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series --- Nextel All-Star Challenge
Driver: Kasey Kahne
Team Director: Tommy Baldwin
Team Owner: Ray Evernham
Chassis: No. 10
Info: Started seventh at Vegas,
Finished 38th after crash
KASEY KAHNE QUOTES
“We had a lot of fun to get our first win. The team and everybody did a perfect job all night long and all weekend long really. Everything went right. Everything went our way. Everything stands out to me. I remember every part of it. It was pretty cool, but the best part I thought was when I drove into victory lane and all the guys were all smiles and happy. Ray and Tommy were in the middle and everybody was so pumped up. They had worked so hard and tried so hard to win races for us and we finally got it done.”
“Yes, that’s special for me for no other reason than to be in the all-star race and have a chance at the million dollars and put a great race on for the fans and to give my team a shot to have a pit stop Friday night and start first in the all-star race. It’s so cool how they do that. It gets everybody on the team a shot at it, and I’m pretty excited we were able to get in it and have a shot at the pit stop deal.”
“I don’t know what I’d do with it. I’d love to get it. I’d probably go buy a house. I’m still living in my apartment I got three and a half years ago when I moved to Charlotte. If I won that money, I’d definitely go buy a house.”
STATS & FACTS
KASEY KAHNE AT LOWE’S
This weekend will mark Kahne’s second NASCAR Nextel Cup Series start in the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Kahne earned his way in to the field with his first win of the season last weekend at Richmond International Raceway.
Last year at the event Kahne started in the 16th position but finished the day in the seventh spot, the top finishing spot of a rookie in the field.
KAHNE SWEEPS UP AT RICHMOND
Kahne claimed his second consecutive pole, driving the No. 9 Dodge Charger to a time of 20.775 seconds at 129.964 mph around the 0.75-mile track. The time was just a tick off the track record of 20.772 set during last year’s spring event.
The pole was the sixth of Kahne’s career, in just 47 Cup Series starts, with his latest pole coming two weeks ago at Darlington.
Kahne made it a qualifying sweep at Richmond as he also won the pole for Friday night’s NASCAR Busch Series race. It’s the first time in Kahne’s career he has won the pole for both racing events at a track on the same weekend.
RICHMOND WIN
Kasey Kahne claimed his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series victory last Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. Kahne started from the Bud Pole, led seven times for 242 laps, and never fell out of the top ten, en route to victory.
Last week was also the first win of the season for the Dodge Charger which returned in 2005 after a 27-year hiatus from NASCAR’s premier series.
With Kahne’s first Nextel Cup Series win at Richmond he joined an exclusive club of 13 drivers to win in the Craftsman Truck, Busch and Cup series.
Kahne’s win was the sixth win for Evernham Motorsports and for the fifth consecutive year, an Evernham Dodge has visited victory lane.
ADDING UP THE POINTS
Kahne acquired his first career victory and second victory for Evernham Motorsports at Richmond. Last year Evernham Motorsports teammate Jeremy Mayfield, also won at Richmond.
After Kahne’s win at Richmond he jumped up four spots in the Nextel Cup point standings, putting him at 15th in the standings. He’s just 83 points out of 10th place and 301 points away from the leader.
Kahne picked up the maximum number of points for the race with 190 and he also led seven times during the race, which allowed him to pick up 10 bonus for leading and also leading the most laps of the race with 242.
CREW CHANGES
The No. 9 Dew Crew made two additions to their rooster right before Darlington adding Brent Wentz as catch can man and Kyle Turner as rear tire changer.
PASSING GRADE
Kahne passed 33 cars for position in this month’s Martinsville race. He moved from 35th to finish second. The number of positions gained in a single race (33) is a Cup Series career-high for Kahne.
