Like Us
Follow Us
Coke Zero 400 Recap - Kasey Kahne
- Kasey Kahne started Saturday’s race at Daytona International Speedway from the 20th position
- Kahne collected his career best finish at the Daytona Beach, Fla. superspeedway with a second place result
- Kahne jumps to 16th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings following the 18th race of the season
Race Summary: Kasey Kahne started the night off in 20th position and worked his way into the top 10 by Lap 7. The caution flag waved on Lap 15 for a competition caution and the No. 9 Budweiser Armed Forces Ford team pitted for four tires, air pressure and chassis adjustments.
Kahne ran as high as fourth in the first half of the race and fell back to 19th when the team had to pit twice under caution for a missing lug nut on Laps 105 and 106. Less than 15 laps later, Kahne spun in Turn 3 and got into the wall. Just after that, several cars wrecked in front of him, bringing out the caution flag. The No. 9 team took advantage of the caution period and pitted three times to repair damage to the right-rear quarter panel of the Rich-ard Petty Motorsports Ford. Kahne took the green flag in 31st position on Lap 121.
Kahne quickly rebounded and was back inside the top 10 within 20 laps. He continued his quest to the front and was running third when the caution flag waved at Lap 148 for an 18-car wreck. NASCAR red-flagged the race for nearly 20 minutes to clear debris and fix part of the safety barriers.
The Budweiser Armed Forces Ford team pitted for the final time on Lap 149 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Kahne restarted sixth, fell back to ninth and worked his way back up to third when the caution flag waved at Lap 158, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
Kahne drafted with Kevin Harvick during the final laps and ended up finishing the race in the second position. It was Kahne’s best-ever finish at Day-tona International Speedway and his fifth top five and sixth top 10 of the 2010 season. The finish also jumps Kahne up four spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings to 16th position, just 154 points out of the 12th-place cut-off point for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Kahne on the Daytona Event: “Every time I looked up there was a crash going on it seemed like the last 30 laps there. We had a great run going with our Budweiser Armed Forces Ford Fusion. It would have been nice to get it into Victory Lane. It was still a good run for our Armed Forces car and the team did a good job. It’s another top five. I want to thank all of the men and women out there fighting for this country on Fourth of July weekend. It’s a great weekend and we’re happy as can be that we get to race and we love all of them.”
