Kasey Kahne started Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International from the pole position
Kahne is now tied on NASCAR’s all-time poles list with Lee Petty, Donnie Allison and Joe Weatherly
Kahne finished the 200-lap event in 14th place
Race Summary: Kasey Kahne led the field to the green flag for Sunday’s 200-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Michigan International Speedway. The No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion tried to fight off the No. 48 car in the opening laps but with settled into the fourth position by Lap 10.
Over the course of the opening laps Kahne reported to crew chief Kenny Francis and team that he was starting to fight a loose handling machine. Francis pulled together a plan for the Richard Petty Motorsports crew to execute when the opportunity arose for a stop which came by way of the first caution of the day at Lap 32. The Budweiser crew made both track bar and wedge adjustments in addition to adding fuel and four fresh Goodyear tires. The quick work by the team had Kahne in the ninth position on the restart at Lap 38.
Kahne maintained tack position among the top five as the race approached the halfway mark. As the laps wound down, the driver began to report that his Ford was starting to really tighten up. Francis and team delivered further adjustments to help alleviate the handling issue. With just under 40 laps to go, Kahne for the first time during the course of the event began to slide out of the top 10. Kahne restarted the race on Lap 172 in the 20th position following the fifth caution of the day. Within merely a few laps the driver had his No. 9 Budweiser Ford back up near the top-10. He used the remaining laps to try to regain his place among the top-10 but came across the start/finish line in the 14th position as the checkered flag waved.
Kahne on the Michigan International Speedway Event: “We actually ran pretty good for a long time, but the front just got tight in one corner and it didn’t turn the rest of the time until we put on four tires that final run, so I was actually kind of free throughout most of the race. And then I got tight and was terrible after that, so I don’t know what happened. It’s disappointing. I thought we had a good shot, but something went wrong there.
Kenny and this Budweiser team worked hard though. We’ll keep at it and see what we come up with next week at Bristol.”
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