Sports Radio Interviews

Kasey Kahne on Talladega: “I think it is a unique experience. It is pretty cool.”

Kasey Kahne is heading into this weekend’s Talladega race with almost no chance of winning the 2009 Nextel Cup. Kahne is in eleventh place with just four races to go, a long way from the momentum he carried into The Chase. It looked as though he could make a run at the Cup after winning in Atlanta but a blown engine at New Hampshire, the first race of the Chase, erased any chance he had. That was the first DNF for Kahne all season which caused quite a uproar in recent weeks. After it was announced a week before the Chase that Richard Petty Motorsports would run Ford’s next year with the support of Roush Fenway Racing, some thought this was an act of sabotage by RPM’s engine department to the Dodge’s R6 engine. It was later evident that a broken crankshaft is what caused the blown engine not sabotage like some conspiracy theorists thought. With the switch to Ford engines next season, RPM is having teammate, Elliott Sadler, drive a Ford for the last 4 races so they can start testing for next season.

Kasey Kahne joined KJR in Seattle and talked about the relationship between he and his crew chief, Kenny Francis during the last couple of months, he appreciates having his crew chief more now after all of the turmoil lately, and whether he likes racing at Talladega.

On the relationship between he and his crew chief, Kenny Francis during the last couple of months:

“It is a big deal for myself to have someone like Kenny and also for our team. Everybody works…We work hard because we know that Kenny is so focused and how hard he works. He keeps us going in the right direction. To me it is great to have someone like that and it is neat to work with him and all of that. I like it. I think he keeps all of our guys working hard and focused on what we need to do and that is good.”

Whether he appreciates having his crew chief more now after all of the turmoil lately:

“Oh yeah for sure. I appreciate him more and I know everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports appreciates him and what he has done for the team and it is a big part of why we are in the Chase and why we have won two races this year and I have an opportunity to win a couple more and run more throughout these next four races.”

On his team’s boss saying that Kasey is not used to the media and what his reaction is:

“Well I think from his side he was trying to say that I wasn’t trying to get on the team or anything like that and he was trying to look out for his team or for himself. I actually really like the media. I get along with the media and I like what they do for our self and what they do for our team and company. I don’t know where he came from in some of that you know? I don’t know what he was saying there either but as far as it goes we are all on the same page now and try to run better and make gains at Richard Petty Motorsports and hopefully we can do that.”

On his win at Sonoma and what it was like to celebrate with Richard Petty after Petty’s first win in 10 years:

“It was exciting to see Richard in victory lane and to see how excited he was, how excited our team was to know that we were a part of getting Richard back into victory lane. It had been 10 years for him. It was a neat afternoon to win at Sonoma and that is a road course that I really hadn’t run good at in the past. I think between myself and Tony Stewart we had the two fastest cars out there and we ended up holding him off. It was a good day for us. It was a lot of fun.”

On the restarts at the end of the Sonoma race and whether they drove him crazy:

“Yeah I had to just keep my focus and not make any mistakes. There is so many little things that you can do at Sonoma and that would’ve given Tony an opportunity and our Budweiser Dodge was good enough to hold him off. I was pretty happy to hold that guy off at a road course because he is about as good as it gets at the road courses usually.”

Whether he likes racing at Talladega:

“I actually like it. I hate getting in wrecks there and that is part of it so if you are in the middle of the pack and something happens more times than not you are going to be in the wreck and there is just cars everywhere. If you missed the wrecks and you can go all day long and not hit anything and race three-four wide, I think it is a unique experience. It is pretty cool.”

Kasey Kahne on KJR in Seattle with the Gas Man

Tags: four-wide, Kahne, Kasey, Kasey Kahne, NASCAR, NASCAR Nextel Cup, Richard Petty, Richard Petty Motorsports, Talladega, Talldega, The Chase, three-wide