Busch finishes 10th and Kahne misses the chase
Kurt Busch posted his sixth top-10 finish of the season in Sunday’s
rain-delayed Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Speedway,
but Kasey Kahne didn’t fare so well. He finished 19th, placing him 13th
in series standings – just outside of the top-12 and the Chase for the
Cup.
Kahne started 13th and edged close to the top 10 on a couple of
occasions. His efforts were hampered by pit road incidents created by
the car that pitted directly in front of the No. 9 Dodge. On two
occasions, during yellow-flag pit stops early in the race, Kahne had to
back up slightly in order to exit his pit stall after the team had
completed its service because the car in the next stall stopped at such
an angle that Kahne could not exit.
Kyle Petty and Juan Pablo Montoya along with Labonte, Carpentier and
Sorenson finished on the lead lap at the checkered flag. Petty ran as
high as 16th in the race and finished 24th, his best finish of the
season in 12 starts.
“It was a good day for us,” said Petty. “We got a couple lucky dogs
and got back in the race. More importantly, I think that we ran well
today. We struggled to get caught up once we got our lap back, but it
was a good day.”
Elliott Sadler along with Montoya, Hornish Jr., Labonte and
Carpentier were involved in mishaps or spins during the afternoon as 14
cautions appeared for a total of 71 laps. One
“I feel like I did everything I could today,” said Kahne. “I tried
to take chances. I tried to be smart at the same time to get what we
could get. We couldn’t get four tires on the track. The car would push
getting in (to the corner) and slide the back getting off (the corner).
It was kind of all over. We got the car better. Kenny (Francis, team
director) made some good calls for where the car was. I think we
improved it. Track position hurt us all day. I was trapped in between a
couple of (Jack) Roush cars on pit road and it didn’t matter where I
came in (to the pits), I was trapped. It was a long day in the pits. I
came out about last every single time it seemed like. At least we came
out after those cars all the time. That didn’t help, but either way, we
weren’t going to beat Clint (Bower). He did what he needed to do today
to get in the Chase.”
Had Kahne been able to overtake Bowyer and take the 12th spot, he
would have vaulted all the way to fourth in the seeding process for the
Chase. All teams start the Chase with 5,000 points with an additional
10 points for each win.
Busch started 20th in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge and climbed his way as high as fifth in the race before settling for 10th.
“We had a good run today in the Miller Lite Dodge,” said Busch.
“Everything was satisfactory. I think we can give ourselves a B+ all
the way through. We just need to get an A for handling one day and make
sure we follow up with that with the right adjustments during the race.
We were loose early on, but got it to a point where that was about all
we were going to get. We went from seventh to 15th and then back into
the top-10 in the pit stop shuffle. We’ll take it.”
was a NASCAR®-ordered
competition yellow on lap 37.
As the 2008 racing series rolls on, the Dodge boys prepare for the Sylvania 300 on September 14 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Results for all Dodge drivers at the Rock & Roll 400:
# 2 Kurt Busch – 10
# 9 Kasey Kahne – 19
# 43 Bobby Labonte – 21
# 45 Kyle Petty – 24
# 10 Patrick Carpentier – 25
# 41 Reed Sorenson – 26
# 42 Juan Pablo Montoya – 30
# 12 Ryan Newman – 33
# 19 Elliott Sadler – 37
# 77 Sam Hornish Jr. – 38
# 7 Robby Gordon – 42
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