Kasey Kahne: "If we can win races, we'll continue to improve our race cars and be ready to start next season strong." Credit: Autostock

Kahne doesn't get top-10 start, but he'll take it

FONTANA, Calif. -- Kasey Kahne said his No. 9 Dodge team hit on something that worked Saturday during Bud Pole Qualifying for Sunday's Sony HD 500.

He's just not sure what it is.

"I don't know how it went that fast," said Kahne, who qualified seventh for Sunday night's race at California Speedway. "It was just up off the bottom, and it just kind of rolled up on the right-front and it didn't feel that good. But that was still a good time.

Kahne's strong run is even more surprising when you consider he was a turtle-like 39th in Happy Hour earlier Saturday.

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"We made a bunch of changes before qualifying there, and we kind of went back to where we were yesterday," Kahne said. "We didn't make the qualifying run in practice today because we didn't have time to.

"This is different than what we've had all weekend and it ran good," he said. "It's the first time we taped off, we should pick up at least a second at this track with tape. That's just the way it is."

Qualifying hasn't been a problem for the No. 9 bunch lately. Saturday's effort is their third consecutive top-10 finish. However, in the other two attempts, Kahne finished 29th at Michigan and 42nd last Saturday night at Bristol.

That said, history has been somewhat kind to Kahne at California Speedway. He finished second to Elliott Sadler in this race a year ago. This year, however, he was 40th in the most recent Cup race here in February.

Either way, Kahne expects a tough road Sunday night.

"California is just a fast track. You try to run a lot of throttle and a little bit of brake and make a quick lap. It works well in qualifying, but to race like that, it's different.

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"We'll just see how the race goes because it's going to be completely different in the race (Sunday). We had a great race here last year, running second to Sadler. Hopefully, we can have a better performance this year than what we did in the spring race here."

Where Kahne was battling for a spot in the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup one year ago, things are different this time around. He got his first win earlier this year at Richmond, but thanks in part to four DNFs, Kahne is mathematically eliminated from the Chase, is 21st in the series standings and finds himself nearly 1,000 points behind leader Tony Stewart.

As a result, the "big picture" is really big for Kahne this time around at California, 14 months big, as a matter of fact.

"Although we'll miss the Chase this year, these next 12 races are very important for our team," said Kahne. "If we can win races, we'll continue to improve our race cars and be ready to start next season strong.

"It's much easier to figure things out on the track now than trying to figure them out during the off-season."

Despite the problems -- Kahne says his team is on the right path.

"We're still not where we want to be, but we're definitely on the upward climb and headed in the right direction.

"This year has been an experience, much different than last year," Kahne said. "Things haven't gone exactly as we had expected. We got that first win at Richmond, but there have been disappointments, especially the DNFs.

"(Crew chief) Tommy (Baldwin) told us this will make us a better team ... a stronger team in the future. I agree."