Kasey Kahne is looking forward to getting back to the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway. And why wouldn’t he after the weekend he had at BMS last August?
Kahne picked up his first win at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile in the Food City 250 Nationwide Series race and then came back on Saturday evening to run second to winner Carl Edwards in the Sharpie 500 after starting from the pole.
His victory in the Food City 250 on what was then a new concrete surface came in one of the most competitive Nationwide Series races ever contested at BMS.
"My first pole and my first ever win here. That's just incredible." said Kahne after the win. "To me this is the kind of track where you dream of winning because it's such a tough place to win. When you get the opportunity to win here, it feels good.
"The atmosphere here is different than anywhere we go so to win a race at Bristol is just unbelievable."
Kahne will try to make it two in a row when he races in the Sharpie MINI 300 Saturday afternoon. He says he can’t wait to hit the high banks of Bristol.
“Everyone is energized heading back to Bristol,” he said. “We won there in the fall and we have high hopes of doing well this week. It was such an exciting race last year. At one point (Ryan) Newman, (Jason) Leffler and I were running three wide, so it was pretty intense. Luckily we came out on top, but the race could have gone either way.”
Kahne says the new surface at BMS made all the difference in the world to his approach to both races a year ago.
“Since they added the variable banking last year, I really feel comfortable running the high groove there,” he said. “It allows you to pull a lot more momentum off turns two and four and get position heading into the next corner. It also allows you to keep the guys running the bottom pinned down so they can’t carry their speed out to the wall. If our car works well up top again, that’s where you’ll probably see us running.”
Kahne won’t be the lone Sprint Cup doing double duty this weekend. Others racing in both the Sharpie MINI 300 Saturday (2:30 p.m. start) and the Food City 500 Sunday (2 p.m. start) are Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Bobby Labonte, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.
Qualifying for the Sharpie MINI 300 takes place at 9:40 a.m. Saturday. Tickets are available for the race, as well as for Pole Day on Friday, and may be purchased at the Bristol Motor Speedway ticket office or by calling 423-989-6900.
