* Kasey Kahne is set to make his 11th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
start at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) this weekend.
* With three races remaining until the season finale, Kahne is currently
ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, 12 points
behind eighth-place driver Ryan Newman.
* Kahne scored a win at TMS during the spring race in 2006 after
starting from the pole. He led 63 laps en route to the victory.
* In 10 starts at TMS, Kahne has accrued one win, two top-five and two
top-10 finishes.
* Kahne has an average start of 14th and an average finish of 23rd at
TMS.
* In nine starts at the 1.5-mile oval, Kahne has posted four top-five
starting positions.
* In addition to Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event, Kahne will
also be participating in the Saturday's Nationwide Series race piloting
the No. 38 entry for Braun Racing.
Kahne discusses racing at Texas Motor Speedway:
What are your thoughts on this weekend's race at Texas? "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 bouncing around
and you have to slide the back around. I enjoy racing there."
What makes Texas different than other 1.5-mile tracks? "Getting into
Turn One can be tricky. It is real flat and then as you are coming into
the corner, you get into the banking. It's almost like you fall into the
corner at 190 miles per hour. Turn Three is similar but it is not as
drastic. It is a difficult place to get your car to handle the way you
want. It is a great track, but you really need your car to handle well
on entry to be competitive."
What makes a car good at Texas? "The biggest thing is the front end.
You have to get the left front working. You have to make sure that your
front two tires are cutting real well. You need your back (of the car)
to be in the track real well. The biggest thing for me is the front
tires. That's usually what we struggle with here -- the front tires
aren't working as good as they need to work. The couple times that they
have worked really well, we've either been first of second. This should
be a good track for us."
-credit: rpm
