 | | Credit: Autostock |
May 16, 2005
12:34 PM EDT (16:34 GMT)
RICHMOND, Va. -- Kasey Kahne posted his first Cup series victory Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway in the Chevy American Revolution 400. He later discussed the win with the media: Do you feel like this victory remedies the struggles your team had early in the year? I think we're on track. We've got two poles a first and a third the past two weeks. We're on a roll. This was our last chance to get in the all-star race and we were able to do it. We look forward to running at Charlotte next weekend. What does battling -- and beating -- Tony Stewart for the win mean to you? It was so fun racing Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch up there at the beginning of the race. To have Tony on my heels the whole race was pretty awesome to me. It was just an unbelievable feeling. I was pretty nervous. I've been leading races before and not won 'em. I just got into turn one a little bit too soft and [Stewart] got a good run on the outside. He knew I was going to the bottom. He came close. We got to Turn 3 and I just floored it a little bit earlier than I would have on a normal lap and got position again. We were better out front. It was just a matter of getting position. They've helped me so much, Tony has, watching Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman that have done so much for USAC and Sprint Cars. It's great to be able to race with them all night and race clean and hard. Tony Stewart has helped me as much as any driver to get where I am right now. It was awesome to be able to race with him all night long and to be able to beat him was even better. He's as good as they get in Nextel Cup and we were able to hold him off [Saturday night]. It's an awesome win for everybody on our Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger race team. It's the first win for the Charger, and that's great. Were you worried at all having Tony Stewart on your heels for most of the night? The only reason I was concerned about seeing Tony is because I know how aggressive and how good he is. I wasn't concerned one bit about him bumping me out of the way or anything like that. I was concerned about him driving by just because he's that fast. That was the only thing I was concerned about, hitting my marks and doing my things right because I knew our car was good enough to win. Other than that, it was just a lot of fun racing with Tony. I was always real happy with running second, not when we lost by a foot or we were leading a race and spun in oil. Those times I wasn't happy at all, but when we came home second early in the season and second at Martinsville this season to Jeff Gordon, I had nothing for Jeff Gordon. I was happy as I could be to get that many points and run that great. I would have loved to win. We only had six seconds. We could have had 15. I would have been more mad if we'd had that many. I definitely knew that was Tony and how good he is here. To beat Tony on my first win, and he said at the end, 'to run second to you on your first Nextel Cup win' he was happy to do that. I was happy to be able to beat him and someone who has helped me as much as he has to get to this point in some of the Busch stuff and some of the things that went on earlier in my career. To race with him that close all night long and then beat him is very cool. Is it a feeling of accomplishment for your entire team? It's been coming for awhile. This team has really worked hard, everybody at Evernham Motorsports. Ray has given us everything we need to go fast. It's awesome to win here, win with Tommy [Baldwin]. Everybody did such a great job tonight. They kept me out front and the car was great. We made a few small changes throughout the race and just kept up with the racetrack. To win at Richmond, a track we struggled at last year, a track that definitely wasn't one of my favorites last year, it's pretty cool. To do it the last chance to get in the all-star race next weekend is even better. It's a great weekend for us. A couple of poles, a fourth and a first, that's not too bad for Evernham Motorsports this weekend. Last year Jeremy [Mayfield] and his team stepped up big time at this race to go into the Chase for the Cup. They did a great job to do that, and this year we stepped up to get in the All-Star Challenge. We've been on the edge of winning races for a year and 10 races. We were able to do it [Saturday night]. Tonight was just the night. We came so close and always thought when it was our time we'd win a race. [Saturday night] was our time, and it happens to be before the all-star race and that's even better. It gives the pit crew another chance to perform next weekend and show their stuff. They're pretty tight. They were great all night and next week in the all-star race they'll show their stuff again and we'll be able to start up front in that. • Q&A: Ray Evernham and Tommy Baldwin | 
