No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger Race Facts
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series --- Richmond International Raceway
Driver: Kasey Kahne
Team Director: Tommy Baldwin
Team Owner: Ray Evernham
Chassis: No. 61
Info: Finished 4th, 8th and 5th
in ‘04 at New Hampshire-A/B
and Phoenix (respectively)
KASEY KAHNE QUOTES
“Racing at Richmond is a lot of fun. It's a very competitive track. It's a test for the driver, car and crew. Our crew has really stepped up the last few races and given me some quick stops and Tommy (Baldwin) is making good calls on adjustments. I'm looking forward to Richmond under the lights.
"We've made significant improvements in our short track program in the last 12 months and especially during the off season. It showed at Bristol and Martinsville earlier this year and we expect to be very competitive at Richmond. We go to all of the short tracks this year with confidence.”
STATS & FACTS
KASEY KAHNE AT RICHMOND
This weekend will mark Kahne’s third NASCAR Nextel Cup Series start at Richmond.
Kahne earned his best career start and finish at Richmond in last year’s fall race, where he started 11th and finished 24th.
ADDING UP THE POINTS
After Kahne’s third place finish at Darlington he gained three spots in the Nextel Cup point standings, placing him 19th. He is just 42 points out of 15th and 144 away from reaching the top 10.
CREW CHANGES
The No. 9 Dew Crew added two members to its roster prior to Darlington including Brent Wentz as catch can man and Kyle Turner as rear tire changer. Wentz and Turner will return again this weekend at Richmond.
CHARGING TO THE FRONT OF THE DODGE CHARGER 500
Kahne was the defending Bud Pole winner going into last weekend’s Dodge Charger 500, and he repeated his qualifying effort by claiming his first Bud Pole of the 2005 season with a time of 28.923 seconds at 170.024 mph in his No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger.
The pole was the fifth of Kahne’s career in just 46 Cup Series starts.
Kahne posted his second top-five finish in three races at Darlington, finishing third on Saturday. The finish was his third top five of 2005 and was his career-best Darlington finish.
Kahne also led three times during the race for a total of 60 laps led.
PASSING GRADE
Kahne passed 33 cars for position in April’s Martinsville race. He moved from 35th to finish second. The number of positions gained in a single race (33) was a Cup Series career-high for Kahne.
