No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger Race Facts
Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Driver: Kasey Kahne
Team Director: Kenny Francis
Car Director: Mike Shiplett
Engineer: Keith Rodden
Team Owner: Ray Evernham
Chassis: No. 124
Car Info: Raced by Jeremy Mayfield at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2005.
KASEY KAHNE QUOTES
“This weekend we’ll start out where we ended the test in January. I feel like we had a great race car at the test. We’ll just have to work hard. We have to keep making the right adjustments, and I have to keep giving the right information to Kenny Francis. He’ll take it and make the right adjustments. If we do that we’ll have as good a shot to win out there as anybody. The competition is as high as it’s ever been. I think we’ve just got to step up and do the job.”
ON THE COLD FORECAST FOR LAS VEGAS:
“I didn’t look at the weather, but that (forecast) is interesting. It was a lot warmer when we tested out there. The tires get hot and slide around a lot more than when the track is colder, so if it’s that cold on those days it’ll just be faster. You’ll have more grip. The front and rear of the car will handle better. It may be a better race. I feel like a lot of times when the track’s real warm you get a few cars that really get it figured out and can kind of dominate the race. When it’s colder sometimes you’ll have seven or eight cars that are really good throughout the entire day.”
ON HIS OFF-WEEKEND:
“I had a really good off-week. My sprint car team was racing out in Arizona and they had a couple of good races out there. I would have loved to be out there with them because I had the weekend off, but I don’t get any time to go to Supercross races, so finally this weekend I did. I went up to the RCA Dome in Indianapolis and hung out with Ricky Carmichael and his team all day Saturday and Saturday night and watched him win his 45th Supercross. It was pretty fun. I hadn’t been to a Supercross in three or four years, so it was exciting to be down in the middle of it and be involved. I pretty much stuck with him throughout the entire day and night. I ended up with him at his press conference at the end of the night and everything. It was interesting to see how those guys go about their whole race weekend.”
STATS & FACTS
KASEY KAHNE AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Sunday’s race will mark Kasey Kahne’s third NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His best run at the track came in 2004 when he started first, led 43 laps and finished second. Last year Kahne started seventh and finished 38th after getting caught up in an accident.
Kahne earned his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series pole position, setting a new race track record in his first career Cup Series visit to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2004. The feat marked the first time a rookie had won the pole at Las Vegas and tied Kahne with Mark Martin and Kurt Busch for winning a pole in just his third career start. Kahne’s 2004 pole-winning lap of 174.904 m.p.h., 30.874 seconds still holds the track’s qualifying record.
KAHNE MOVING UP
Kahne’s fourth-place finish two weeks ago at California Speedway moved him from 12th to fourth in the point standings, tying his best points ranking set after Atlanta in March 2004.
Kahne’s fourth-place status also matches the best-ever points standing for any Evernham Motorsports driver.
UAW-DAIMLER CHRYSLER SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME
The Nos. 9 and 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Chargers will run special schemes in Sunday’s UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Flames will extend down the length of each car and the hoods will feature the race logo for the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400.
