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After winning his first Talladega pole Kasey Kahne says he's in the best restrictor plate equipment of his career.
Kahne, now driving for Hendrick Motor Sports said “they just put a big emphasis on these types of tracks and this type of racing. I have never been anywhere before where they do that. As far as the engine goes, the body of the car, everything that they can work on they do. So that makes all of our cars qualify well and look really good when it comes to qualifying.
“I have qualified dead last here before and close to it probably the majority of the times I have been here my first three or four years in the Cup series. That is just all the effort and emphasis that they put on this track. It feels good to drive that car.”
Winning his third pole of the year and 25th in his career; Kahne averaged 191.455 mph. He will be joined on the front row by Ryan Newman whose Stewart Haas Racing equipment is purchased from HMS.
Newman sounded a little miffed at missing the pole with a speed of 191.145mph.
“It is what it is. It was a good run. The guys did a great job with the car but we came up a little bit short with the U.S. Army Chevrolet. We only ran five laps yesterday in practice.
“We come here with the impression that we're bringing the best car with all the things that we know that are fastest, so trying things in practice is just trying things. We had the confidence to know that we were competitive and we were and we'll see how it shakes out in the race versus qualifying.”
Chase points leader Brad Keselowski said he's not too worried about his 22nd starting spot considering he won the May race at the 2.66mph superspeedway.
I think we've proven that the only lap that matters is the last one," said Keselowski, who won the May 6 race at Talladega. We have a good [car]. You have to stay out of trouble, be solid on pit road and put yourself in position to make a run at the end. We'll see how it plays out."
Jimmie Johnson, who is second in the points, will start 17th.
Only 43 cars were entered for Sunday's 500 miler, no one will be sent home.
Kahne, now driving for Hendrick Motor Sports said “they just put a big emphasis on these types of tracks and this type of racing. I have never been anywhere before where they do that. As far as the engine goes, the body of the car, everything that they can work on they do. So that makes all of our cars qualify well and look really good when it comes to qualifying.
“I have qualified dead last here before and close to it probably the majority of the times I have been here my first three or four years in the Cup series. That is just all the effort and emphasis that they put on this track. It feels good to drive that car.”
Winning his third pole of the year and 25th in his career; Kahne averaged 191.455 mph. He will be joined on the front row by Ryan Newman whose Stewart Haas Racing equipment is purchased from HMS.
Newman sounded a little miffed at missing the pole with a speed of 191.145mph.
“It is what it is. It was a good run. The guys did a great job with the car but we came up a little bit short with the U.S. Army Chevrolet. We only ran five laps yesterday in practice.
“We come here with the impression that we're bringing the best car with all the things that we know that are fastest, so trying things in practice is just trying things. We had the confidence to know that we were competitive and we were and we'll see how it shakes out in the race versus qualifying.”
Chase points leader Brad Keselowski said he's not too worried about his 22nd starting spot considering he won the May race at the 2.66mph superspeedway.
I think we've proven that the only lap that matters is the last one," said Keselowski, who won the May 6 race at Talladega. We have a good [car]. You have to stay out of trouble, be solid on pit road and put yourself in position to make a run at the end. We'll see how it plays out."
Jimmie Johnson, who is second in the points, will start 17th.
Only 43 cars were entered for Sunday's 500 miler, no one will be sent home.