Kahne eager to put Dover race behind him

LONG POND, Pa. -- Five days after a patch of oil cost him a chance at his first Nextel Cup win, Kasey Kahne says he -- and his team -- have moved on.

	Kasey Kahne

"I've been over it all week," Kahne said before Friday morning's opening practice at Pocono Raceway. "It was disappointing, but we're here now."

Kahne was leading last Sunday's MBNA 400 at Dover with 20 laps to go when the engine of Casey Mears' Dodge expired, leaving a stream of oil. Kahne hit it and hit the wall, finishing 21st.

"Last weekend didn't work out like we wanted, but I'm not going to let that bother me," Kahne said. "When we ran the Busch race on Monday, the first lap was just as fast as the last lap we ran on Sunday.

"You've just got to keep looking forward, not backward."

Kahne said crew chief Tommy Baldwin and his team helped Kahne forget -- and focus on the job at hand.

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"(Crew chief) Tommy (Baldwin) has been really good this week," Kahne said.

"He's been up all week long and that's really helped me."

The No. 9 team certainly has good notes to work with this weekend at Pocono. Bill Elliott drove its Dodge to Victory Lane here in July 2002. In all, "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" has four Bud Poles and five victories here.

Elliott joined the team when it tested here on June 3, and Kahne said he got very good information.

	Kahne: "You've just got to keep looking forward, not backward." Credit: Autostock

"He's given me a lot of pointers," Kahne said of Elliott. "He's helping me learn how to get through the corners. He's got great insight on how to each corner is different and how I need to get through it."

Kahne enters the weekend 12th in the Nextel Cup standings, 74 points out of 10th -- the precious final spot in the "Chase for the Nextel Cup." As far as that goes, Kahne said things will take care of themselves.

"We're working well as a team," Kahne said. "I've really had people to work with, talk to and learn from all year long and that's something that I really haven't had in the past.

"We've had a lot of good races, good qualifying efforts," he said. "We've had some rough races too, but I think it's been a really great season so far."