Kahne still in awe of last season's All-Star victory (cont'd)

"It's tough to say, but I think it will be harder because last year I was third on the final restart," Kahne said. "I passed Jimmie Johnson and then was working on Denny Hamlin for like eight laps before I finally got by him.

"He was just running the outside. Otherwise, we were way better than Denny was. It was just really a matter of getting past those guys -- and this year, with only 10 laps, you don't have eight laps to work on a car."

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So although it doesn't sound as though Kahne believes it will be as exciting a finish as last season, for him or anyone else, he does believe he has a chance to successfully defend his All-Star victory -- if he's leading heading into the first turn at the outset of the final segment.

"I think it will be the guy who gets the lead in Turn 1 with 10 to go on the final restart who has the best shot at winning the race," Kahne said. "I think track position will be huge at that point in time. Maybe the top couple of rows [can get up there to challenge for the win], but it's going to be tough.

"With these cars, it's tough and it takes time to pass. I really don't know why they did the 10-lap deal. It's all right, I guess. We'll make it work."

If there is anyone who knows how to make it work at Lowe's Motor Speedway these days, it appears to be Kahne. Three of his nine career Cup points victories have come at LMS, and last May he not only won the All-Star Race but also followed that up by winning the Coca-Cola 600 eight days later. Then he finished second in the Bank of America 500 at the track last October.

"One of the biggest things for me [at LMS] is that you have to be able to run anywhere on the race track," Kahne said. "Your car has to turn really good at certain areas on the track, and the front-end has to be in the track.

"Last year in the October race, the back-end of my car was so far out of the track that the front was still positive in the areas where I wanted it to be -- and that really benefitted us. We ran second and were pretty damn close to [race winner] Jeff Burton. I would say the biggest thing is having your front-end really positive at certain load spots on the race track."

At least this year, for the All-Star Race, he will not have to rely on the fans' generosity to be entered into the event. For that, he is grateful.

As defending race champion, Kahne earned a pass into the All-Star event for the next decade. And as if to put a couple of exclamation points on his right to be included in the All-Star field, his subsequent wins last year in the Coca-Cola 600 and at Pocono shortly thereafter would have guaranteed his entry into this year's event regardless.

"That was a huge weekend for us last year," Kahne said. "The fans got us in the race and then from there we stepped up and won it. ... For me, I think that gave us a lot of momentum and encouragement that we were making gains with the car. It all turned out good. It was awesome to get voted in by the fans -- and then to win was even better."