Top-five finishes elude Kahne, Mayfield

CONCORD, N.C. -- Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield used different tire strategy to get in the top five, and you might figure one of them would end up there in Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Instead, Evernham Motorsports ended up with one driver -- Mayfield -- in the top 10. The rookie Kahne, who might have had a shot at winning, slipped back to 12th after punting Bobby Labonte on the last lap.

	Jeremy Mayfield

Ah, what could have been ...

"Maybe we had a shot for second," team owner Ray Evernham said. "Jimmie (Johnson) was only running as hard as he needed to. Both of our cars could've finished in the top five. You've got to make sure you've got your 'i's' dotted and your 't's' crossed and things have got to fall right for you.

"The guys had good cars, but stuff didn't fall right for them."

No, they sure didn't. Kahne probably got the worst of the "stuff," as he looked to have a car that matched Johnson's -- at least on long runs. Starting 19th, Kahne lingered around the top 10 before the sun started to go down.

But once it got dark, Kahne's car took off. He moved through the top 10, and on longer runs began to reel in Johnson.

With 31 laps to go, Derrike Cope and Ryan Newman got together to bring out a yellow. That ended up being the turning point for Kahne -- and for Mayfield.

Jamie McMurray decided to stay on the track, while Michael Waltrip and Mayfield changed only right-side tires. Crew chief Tommy Baldwin put four tires on Kahne's car, and the No. 9 was the first car off pit road with four fresh tires.

Surely, Mayfield or Kahne would at least hold their positions. If Mayfield couldn't stay up front with two tires, surely Kahne could with four.

	Kasey Kahne slipped to a 12th-place finish. Credit: Autostock

But it didn't quite work that way. Despite encouragement from Baldwin to "get up on that wheel," Kahne struggled with a pushing car in traffic.

"It was a 50-50 decision on what to do," Baldwin said. "We knew that a lot of the fast cars were going to come in and put tires on. In order to try to win the race we were going to need to as well. We should have just settled, saying that we were going to run for second tonight and stayed out there. Probably would have ended up second."

Not only did Kahne's car push in traffic, it was slower on fresh tires. He needed a run longer than the 27-lap dash he got. So instead of moving forward, Kahne started slipping back.

"After 30 laps we were the best car hands down, but the first 30 the 48 was bombing it," Kahne said. "There was nobody even close to him. We needed 60 straight, and he got a couple of 20-lap spurts or so."

Johnson got a three-lap spurt at the very end, and Kahne fell back some more. Then, on the last lap, Kahne's car pushed up the track, right into the left rear of Labonte.

	Kasey Kahne

"Ever since that last pit stop we were bottoming real bad on the left side," Kahne said. "He was passing me on the outside. I got into the corner, bottomed real bad, and it was pushing up. There was a bunch of cars there and I was tight. It pushed up; that's why we couldn't stay with the leaders. I got on the brakes and still hit him. I apologized. It was completely my fault. My car bottomed out and I run into the 18. It was all my fault."

Mayfield's charge to the front wasn't as dramatic as Kahne's, and neither was his fall. While Waltrip was able to stay up front on two tires, Mayfield was doing his best to simply hang on.

Johnson roared to the lead before the red flag, dropping Mayfield to fourth. But in the closing laps, Mayfield lost four more spots to end up eighth.

But he wasn't complaining.

"We had a good night," Mayfield said. "We started 15th and ran in the top five most of the race. We made a lot of progress tonight. We were good on the long runs and kept getting better as the track cooled off. The Dew Crew did a great job in the pits tonight. They kept making adjustments that made the car better and better. I wish we could have finished in the top five, but we finished in the top 10 and moved up two spots in the points, so that's pretty good."

Pretty good can described Evernham Motorsports' night, too. Eighth and 12th isn't that bad.

But compared to where it could have been, eighth and 12th didn't seem right.

"It was a good day for the team," Evernham said. "The cars ran really respectable. We just didn't get the finishes we should have. Those are the things we need to work on."