KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE
SAFETY CHANGES MADE AT TALLADEGA SINCE THE SPRING RACE? "I think it's
good. Anything can happen at these types of tracks and everybody knows
that when we come here. It's unfortunate what happened here with debris
getting up in the stands last race. I think they did what they could to
hopefully make it a little bit better and prevent that stuff."
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE REDUCTION IN THE RESTRICTOR-PLATE SIZE FOR
THIS RACE? "I don't really think that it's going to affect things that
much. I would say that the racing will be very similar. I think that the
speeds will be up. These teams seem to keep making their cars better and
faster for each race at Talladega or Daytona. I think (NASCAR) needs to
keep things slowed down once in a while, otherwise we're going to get
over 200 (mph) and that probably wouldn't be a real good thing."
HOW HAS BUMP-DRAFTING CHANGED HERE OVER THE YEARS AT TALLADEGA? "It has
changed and the new car has changed it too. I think that it has a lot to
do with the way that your car is running and how it's handling, how hard
you can push the other cars. It seems like you can get pushed really
hard and definitely push hard if your car is good enough to do that."
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON TEXAS NEXT WEEKEND? "Texas is actually a
really neat track. I've always liked Texas. It's fast. The banking is
awesome. It's a little bit rough too. There are some spots that are
rough, so you have that side where your car is bounding around and you
have to slide the back around. It's a neat track. I enjoy racing there."
WHAT DID YOU THINK WHEN YOU SAW THE EDWARDS-KESELOWSKI WRECK ON REPLAY
AFTER THE SPRING RACE? "I was concerned for the people in the stands.
I was hoping that Carl was OK, that's the first thing that came to my
mind. I'm pretty sure that it was just racing, going for the win, trying
to block and trying to get good runs on people. It just turned into a
pretty good wreck. That's some of the things that happen at this track."
CAN YOU GAIN ON YOUR CAR'S SETUP ON THIS TRACK OR DOES IT COME DOWN
TO HOW YOUR CAR IS WHEN YOU UNLOAD? "I think it's pretty much how you
unload and how good your engine runs. You make a few runs and try to get
the car where you want it. When you leave the pits the car feels really
good because it's so smooth and you just hope that your engine runs
good."
HOW INTENSE IS IT TO RUN IN A PACK OF TWO, THREE AND FOUR CARS HERE?
"It's intense, there's a lot going on. You know where everybody is at
and what you need to do and they're trying to do the same stuff. It's
intense. It's actually exciting, fun racing as long as you can miss the
wrecks."
HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO GET PUSHED BACK IN THE BACK HERE? "You get
trapped sometimes and you can't gain (positions) and the only thing
that you can do is lose spots. You'll have that a couple times during
the race and then other times you get in the line where you're actually
passing cars every lap. That's the line that you have to shoot for all
the time."
WHERE DO YOU PREFER TO BE ON THE LAST FEW LAPS HERE? "Probably in the
front with somebody pushing you hard, you'll need fast cars around you.
I know that."
ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS FOR YOU OR YOUR TEAM WITH SPONSORS IN REACTION
TO THE AJ ALLMENDINGER INCIDENT EARLIER THIS WEEK? "As far as my team,
we know how much Budweiser is about being responsible and drinking
responsibly. No drunk driving. We know that. Budweiser's really big with
responsibility and it's nice to have a sponsor like that."
-credit: dodge motorsports
