Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger
Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
Kasey Kahne makes his ninth career start at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.
Kahne is currently fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. With three top-10 finishes in the first three races, Kahne is off to the best start of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career.
Kahne scored a win at Atlanta during the spring race in 2006 after starting from the pole. He led 85 laps in route to the win.
In eight starts at Atlanta, Kahne has one win, four top-five and five top-10 finishes.
Kahne has an average start of 10th and an average finish of 17th at Atlanta.
Kahne will be available for media interviews on Friday, March 7 at 12:30 p.m. EST at the No. 9 Budweiser Racing team transporter.
Kasey Kahne Discusses Racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway
How does it feel to be fourth in the point standings at this point in the season?
“It feels really good especially after the year we had last year. This is the best we’ve ever started a season and I think it speaks a lot in regards to the changes that we made within the team during the last several months. Our cars have been great, mine and Kenny’s (Francis, crew chief) communication is great. The pit crew has been doing a great job and I think we’re only going to get better. Last week’s race in Las Vegas is proof that we’ve made some pretty big gains this off season. We started pretty far back and even lost a lap but we were able to get back to finish sixth. I don’t think that’s something we could have done last year. Now we just need to get a win. We have a lot of momentum going right now and I’m just looking forward to getting to the race track every week.”
What is it that you like about Atlanta?
“It’s probably my favorite race track. It’s a fast track and it’s wide enough so there are multiple grooves for racing. I like the fact that it lets the driver figure out where the car is handling best. It makes it a little more challenging but it’s also a lot of fun.”
Everyone knew you weren’t feeling well last week so how do you feel after last week’s race and the test at Phoenix?
“I feel good. I actually didn’t feel bad after the first couple days, but I was really tired. I can get by on six to eight hours of sleep and feel good. I was getting 10 and 11 hours of sleep last week and I still felt tired. I think getting more sleep is helping and I’ll be ready to go this weekend – looking forward to it.”
