Kasey Kahne and crew chief Tommy Baldwin are ready to put last week's melee with Kyle Busch behind them. Credit: Autostock

Kahne, Busch looking to put incident behind them

DOVER, Del. -- Kyle Busch is the youngest full-time competitor in Nextel Cup racing, but despite his youth he's proven he's adept at mending fences.

That might be a good thing, because Kasey Kahne and Busch, who were integral parts of the rolling melee that was the Sylvania 300 last weekend, are slated to start in adjacent rows Sunday at Dover International Speedway, after they qualified second and third, respectively.

Kyle Busch says the incident with Kasey Kahne is "over." Credit: Autostock

Last weekend, Busch's No. 5 Chevrolet ran into the back of Kahne's No. 9 Dodge midway through the race, knocking Kahne into the wall and destroying both the car and Kahne's perceived chance at a top-five finish.

Kahne was enraged and, under the ensuing caution, rammed his car into Busch's. It was one of a number of extracurricular skirmishes that day and earned Kahne monetary and point penalties and probation for the rest of the season.

It hurt neither young driver's speed five days later, however, as Kahne earned the second starting spot, next to Bud Pole winner Ryan Newman, with a lap of Dover's high-banked concrete mile in 22.919 seconds, an average speed of 157.074 mph.

Busch will start on the inside of the row behind him, with a lap a little more than three-hundredths of a second slower, 22.952 seconds and 156.617 mph.

Timing prevented the pair from sharing the stage in Dover's infield media center, but they met face to face as Kahne left the stage and Busch entered the room.

The pair exchanged congratulations on their respective qualifying efforts and, while their mood seemed cool -- Busch, his eyes shielded by dark glasses, clearly said, "Sorry about last weekend."

Lineup MBNA RacePoints 400 Pos. Driver Make 1. R. Newman Dodge 2. K. Kahne Dodge 3. Ky. Busch Chevrolet 4. D. Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 5. J. Johnson Chevrolet Complete lineup, click here Official standings, click here Pole winnerRyan Newman makes it a two pole weekend at Dover In the wallKahne gets spun, delivers a payback shot to Kyle Busch Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Kahne, the more soft-spoken of the two, thanked Busch but made no audible response to the apology that could be discerned from 50 feet away.

Asked earlier about the irony of their qualifying positions, Kahne said he had left the incident in the past and had felt no reason to discuss it with Busch.

"We haven't had a chance to talk, but I don't see it as a real big deal any more," Kahne said. "I try to leave last weekend's stuff behind me.

"We both qualified well today, we'll hopefully have a good race Sunday and I don't see us having any more contact."

Busch, meanwhile, who is running in Saturday's Dover 200 Busch race as well, said he'd burned up some shoe leather earlier Friday trying to catch Kahne's crew chief, Tommy Baldwin, and his car owner, Ray Evernham.

"That was days ago -- it's over," Busch said after Kahne had left the room. "I talked with Tommy Baldwin earlier today and discussed things with him -- I tried to catch up with Ray but I was getting in the car as he was walking by.

"I hadn't had a chance to see Kasey at all running back and forth with the Busch cars [but] I ran into him right there and that was about it. I don't even have his phone number so I wasn't able to get in touch with him during the week."

The pair are both trying to salvage as much of their seasons as they can while trying to prepare for next season -- and Dover is a timely link in the schedule as Busch finished second in the spring while Kahne nearly won here in the spring race a year ago.

"We missed the Chase and we're trying to figure out what to do to make the Chase next year," said Kahne, who fell to 22nd in the standings after finishing 38th at New Hampshire. "I think it'll be a real competitive race on Sunday.

"That's our best starting position for a while for our Dodge Charger. The guys have worked hard and they do a good job -- we just need to bring these cars home in one piece, and not bring them up in a big wad."

Busch, who's in 20th, 42 points ahead of Kahne in the standings, said last weekend was disappointing on a number of fronts but he thought the team had a rebound in it.

"We didn't have a very good car last week," Busch said. "I thought it was going to be pretty good, but in the race it wasn't good, either [but] it wasn't the same car we had there in the spring race and that might have been some of the problem.

"We came up here and tested a couple of weeks ago [and] had a decent enough test where we thought we could come here in a good car and we did.

"We unloaded well for qualifying trim and now it's about getting in race trim [Saturday] in practice, getting some good laps down and building a comfort level for the car on the racetrack."