Kasey Kahne won last week at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Credit: Autostock

Kahne picking up speed as weekend goes on

No. 9 team one of only two to crack 96 mph in Saturday practices

MARTINSVLLE, Va. -- Kasey Kahne, attempting to rally his Chase hopes with five races to go, picked up considerable speed at Martinsville on Saturday.

Kahne struggled on Friday, qualifying a lowly 32nd, but his Dodge was second-quickest in the first practice on Saturday. Sterling Marlin (96.278 mph) and Kahne (96.224) were the only two drivers to top 96 mph in the opening runs.

	Happy Hour Speeds Subway 500 Pos. Driver Time Speed 1. J. Johnson 19.722 96.015 2. K. Harvick 19.740 95.927 3. G. Biffle 19.747 95.893 4. S. Marlin 19.748 95.888 5. D. Stremme 19.748 95.888 • Complete speeds, click here • 2nd practice speeds, click here

"We were just a bit of everything [Friday] trying to change some things, try some different things, [Saturday] it felt pretty good," Kahne said. "We were a little tight and we need to keep working on it to turn better, but definitely a better setup [Saturday] than what we had [Friday]."

Kahne finished second here in 2005 after qualifying 35th. He still has an outside shot at catching the Nextel Cup leaders -- Kahne is 160 points out of the lead, and if he can get out of Martinsville with a top-five, it may thrust him back into the title picture.

All six of Kahne's wins have come on high-speed, high-banked tracks, and those make up three (Atlanta, Texas, Homestead) of the final four races after Martinsville.

Still, Kahne knows he must get out of Martinsville without the problems that plagued him in the spring, when he blew an engine.

"I feel like we have struggled [here] at the start [of my career], but the last three, four races, we have not struggled," Kahne said.

Scott Riggs lost an engine in the opening minutes of the first practice and will have to go to the rear on Sunday. Riggs had laid down a decent qualifying lap on Friday, qualifying 17th.

It is the second time in five weeks that Riggs will have to go to the rear after an engine change. At Dover last month, Riggs over-revved his engine during qualifying and had to go to the rear, where he was caught up in an accident.

"We've got two good teammates, and that's really important now," Riggs said. "It looks like Kasey and his team hit on something in the first practice, so we can lean on them."

In the second practice, Jimmie Johnson led the session with lap of 96.015 mph, and Marlin was fourth at 95.888 mph.

Marlin qualified just 22nd for Sunday's race, but he enjoyed one of his top weekends of the year here in the spring, when he finished 14th after leading nine laps.