kasey kahne transcript from dodge teleconference

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004.
Dodge Motorsports Teleconference
K.C. Recap, Charlotte Advance
                     

 

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)

 

NOTE: Kahne, the Raybestos Rookie of the Year leader, has five runner-up
finishes in 2004 and ranks 14th in the series standings, 187 points out
of 11th place. He started 19th and finished 12th in May at Lowe's Motor
Speedway. He qualified second last week at Kansas and finished 12th in
the Evernham Motorsports Dodge.

 

OPENING COMMENTS "We had a really good car at Kansas and ran up front
all day. The car kept getting tighter and tighter getting into the
corner and we kept trying to free it up all day long to help that. We
were off pit sequence a little bit with the rest of the field. We had to
pit toward the end and got back in the pack and got a flat right rear.
We just never got back to the front. We led a lot of laps, but we just
never got back for a top-five finish. We had a good enough car to still
finish 12th after starting 22nd or 23rd on the last final restart.

 

"I look forward to Charlotte. It's a track I always enjoy going to. The
Busch car ran good there the first race and so did the Cup car. It
should be interested. We didn't qualify good there. We drug the valence
so bad around the whole track it lugged the car down. I look forward to
getting a shot for another Bud pole at Charlotte this weekend."

 

HOW MUCH OF YOUR JOB IS FUN AND HOW MUCH OF YOUR JOB IS WORK? "Really, I
think most of it is fun. I enjoy it. It's all work. It's all things I
have to do every day, but to look forward to a race weekend and to know
what I get to do every weekend and the things I do during the week for
sponsors and for the race team, the commitment you make to the team and
sponsors during the week is really pretty easy when you get to run
500-mile races at different tracks every week."

 

DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE A SHOT AT WINNING THE BUD POLE AWARD? "I think
it's going to be tough. It's hard enough just to get one pole, let alone
three in the last six races. That'd be pretty tough to do, but we're
going to try. I love qualifying and the Busch car last weekend we should
have been on the pole for sure with that car. We made a mistake with the
front valence decision right before qualifying. We missed it with the
Cup car just a little bit. We were just a little bit too free to go fast
enough, and Joe Nemechek went out at the end and put down a great lap.
The track was a little cooler when he went out and that definitely
helped, but he put down a good lap. Hopefully we have some
opportunities. Charlotte, Phoenix, Atlanta, Homestead and Darlington, I
think we'll have a shot at all of those tracks."

 

WHICH OF THE FINAL SIX TRACKS DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE BEST SHOT TO
WIN? "Probably our best shot would come at Charlotte, Atlanta,
Darlington or Homestead. Every one of them we have just as good of a
shot as the other one."

 

DID YOU FEEL DISAPPOINTED NOT MAKING THE TOP 10 FOR THE FINAL 10 RACES?
"Yeah, I did. We worked real hard and we felt like we had a shot every
week the last two months to finish up front and get in that top 10. It
was a lot of pressure and a lot of hard work going on. When we didn't
make it, it was tough to handle, but we still had a decent season up to
that point. It hasn't gone as good since, so we need to really step it
up and get some good finishes and try to win a race. We look forward to
next year and trying to get in that top 10 next year."

 

WHAT'S A NORMAL WEEK LIKE FOR YOU OFF THE TRACK? "Yesterday we went to
Detroit for the day. We took off around 8 in the morning and got back
around 7. Today, I've got this and not too much today. I'm going by the
Busch shop and Cup shop today. I have an appearance tomorrow morning and
another one in the afternoon, and then we've got the race weekend. I
stay pretty busy. Usually we try to get Mondays off after two races. We
run between 800-900 miles a weekend. It's nice to take that Monday off."

 

WHAT'S BEEN THE MOST OVERWHELMING THING FOR YOU THIS YEAR? "I'd say just
the fans have been the most overwhelming. There are so many of them and
so many of them want an autograph or picture and will do anything to try
to get to you. It's really pretty cool and exciting when you can make a
little kid or family feel pretty good when they wait for awhile and you
can make them feel good. I enjoy it a lot, but at the same time, it's
the most overwhelming. To have so many people trying to talk to you is
completely different than anything I've ever experienced before."

 

DO YOU GET RECOGNIZED WHEN YOU GO OUT IN PUBLIC? "On race weekends you
go out and you definitely get recognized, or I do, a lot more than I did
earlier in the year. I went out to dinner last Saturday night in Kansas
City and probably 10 or 15 people recognized you through the time you're
sitting down eating. Actually they're pretty nice to you. You sign a few
things for some of them when you're leaving or sign a few pictures. It's
pretty exciting for everybody. I really don't mind it. If you go out and
eat you know it's going to happen. You have to be ready for it and enjoy
it. If not, stay home and eat in your motorhome."

 

ARE YOU CONFIDENT ABOUT WINNING THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR TITLE?
"I certainly hope so. We've been the best rookie car all season long.
The guys on our team have done the best job. Hopefully we'll end up
getting the Raybestos Rookie at the end of the season. I think we
deserve it for sure if we keep running well the rest of the season and
win a race or two. I'll be disappointed (if we don't win a race this
year). We've had too many shots to win. If we don't, I'm already a
little disappointed we haven't won yet. I think we should. We've had
opportunities and just haven't got it done, so we definitely need to. If
we don't it's going to be a letdown, but there's always next year and
the year after. There were two or three of them (five runner-up
finishes) that probably total up to one or two seconds behind the
leader. You run second that many times and it's pretty difficult to
take. That's part of it. We were the dominant car all day long at some
of those races and ran second because of caution flag laps or getting
caught in the pits under a yellow and going a lap down and having to
fight back and get back to the lead and there's oil on the racetrack. A
lot of things happened that we had no control over. It's pretty
disappointing at times when you think about that. You've just got to
keep working hard to make sure that doesn't happen again and we do get a
victory before the season's over."

 

DID YOU FEEL LESS PRESSURE AFTER THE RICHMOND RACE WHEN  THE FIELD WAS
FINALLY SET FOR THE FINAL 10? "Yeah, I felt a lot less pressure because
we're not in there. We were right on the line getting in. It's too bad.
I'd rather have the pressure all season long. We felt like we had a shot
to finish up front in the points, but we didn't, so there's not as much
pressure running for 11th. I wish there was so that we could run better.
We haven't run quite as good as we've wanted to the past two or three
weeks."

 

DO YOU FEEL LIKE A ROOKIE NOW OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'VE BEEN DOING THIS
LONG ENOUGH NOT TO BE CALLED A ROOKIE ANY LONGER? "I definitely feel
like I've been doing it long enough. We'll obviously still be a rookie
until this season is over, but I don't feel like a rookie. I remember
the first few races, and I felt like a rookie starting beside some of
those guys and not being ready for what was going to happen those first
few laps. Now I'm getting pretty used to everything that goes on, and I
look forward to it every weekend."

 

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR DESIRE TO WIN CAME FROM? "Probably my dad, just
growing up it was always about whatever you did, do it right and do it
the bet way you can. He was a really hard worker on everything he ever
did, and I want to do what it takes to win races. That's what I do, and
that's what I live for. I'll do whatever I can to try to win one. It's
just a matter of time until we do."

 

WHAT'S IT LIKE WATCHING THE VETERANS RETIRE? "It's interesting. I enjoy
racing with these guys. They're as good as any of the young guys for
sure. The veterans can still run up front every weekend, and I've been
able to learn a lot from them racing with them this year. It's fun. The
guys I've watched growing up racing in NASCAR and now getting to race
with them is pretty neat before they do retire."

 

ANY FUNNY INCIDENTS THIS YEAR WITH YOUNG LADIES APPROACHING YOU?
"There's definitely been more ladies or ladies approaching that just
goes on because of what we do I guess. Nothing too funny, just more of
it."

 

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED MOST THIS YEAR FROM RAY EVERNHAM AND JEREMY
MAYFIELD? "Probably just the focus and how you need to be focused every
week if you want to do good in the sport. The desire and focus is what
Ray Evernham has for sure. I think he's really helped Jeremy with a lot
of things in that direction and he's helped me with a lot of things,
too. Probably just mainly the desire to focus and win races and to
finish up front and keep the team and sponsors happy."

 

WAS FOCUS A PROBLEM FOR YOU? "Focus isn't a problem for me at all, but
still you see Ray Evernham and how hard he focuses at his shop everyday.
No matter if he's at the shop, his office, hitting a punching bag. It
doesn't matter. The guy is focused all the time. If you want to do the
things Ray has done in this sport, that's how you need to be. I keep
getting more and more focused every week I think."

 

DO YOU THINK YOUR ROOKIE RECORD WILL EXCEED DALE EARNHARDT'S? "I really
don't. I think Dale Sr. was the best racecar driver there's ever been in
NASCAR. All he ever wanted to do was race and win. I never really got to
meet the guy, but I definitely don't think I can match what he did his
rookie season. We'll keep doing as much as we can. To be mentioned in
some of that stuff is neat for me."

 

DO YOU PREFER RUNNING AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY AT NIGHT? "I think the
night races are fun and especially fun at Charlotte. The fans that come
and the way the track is put together, the lighting, everything about
it, it's a pretty entertaining, fun night to race under the lights. The
Busch race will be great, too, the first one under the lights. The Cup
race will be awesome on Saturday night. I look forward to it. I've
watched 'em all in the past and watched Bill Elliott just about win that
race last year in the 9 car, so hopefully we can get that 9 car back up
there and win a race for Ray."

 

IS IT EASIER TO SET UP A CAR FOR A NIGHT RACE? "I would say it is to a
certain point. It's definitely different than the setup you can run
during the day. You can't be super fast with the same setup at night, I
don't see how. At least we couldn't the first race this year. Jimmie
Johnson was pretty consistent, but that's Jimmie Johnson at Charlotte.
He's as good as they get there."

 

DID YOUR OPEN WHEEL EXPERIENCE HELP THE TRANSITION TO NASCAR? "The
horsepower, the engine power, the way the car handles was a pretty big
difference. They are different, but the racing and other cars on the
track wasn't as big a difference. The Busch Series is a really good
series, tough competition and very aggressive drivers. The cars and
stuff were different, but the race itself wasn't a whole lot different.
Every week when I get out of the Busch car and get in the Cup car it's
just more power there, and that's what you like if you came from a
winged sprint car, a Silver Crown car where they've got a ton of power
and not a heavy racecar at all. I really enjoy that part of it for
sure."

 

DO YOU HAVE ANY TESTS LEFT THIS SEASON? "We have one left. We're going
to test at Homestead sometime in November."