CONCORD, N.C. -- Charlotte couldn't come at a better time for Kasey Kahne and the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports team. The 2010 season has been up and down for Kahne -- but recently, it's been mostly down.

After putting the No. 9 Ford fourth on the Coca-Cola 600 starting grid during Thursday qualifying, Kahne backed it up by winning the first practice Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a lap of 183.849 mph. In final practice, Kahne fell off slightly with a lap of 179.784 mph, but it was strong enough for third.

"The car was actually perfect [in the first practice]," Kahne said. "You don't get that situation too often. I think that is why we were the best car."

Martin Truex Jr. paced final practice with a lap of 180.626 followed by Denny Hamlin (179.976), Kahne, Greg Biffle (179.772) and Jimmie Johnson (179.659). Kahne said his car was loose in final practice but crew chief Kenny Francis thinks the No. 9 will be just fine for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.

"[The car] was pretty good," Francis said. "It was a little bit too loose through most of practice and at the end it got a little too tight. Hopefully we can come up with a combination in the middle there."

Kahne's fast lap came very early in practice and the team was unable to match the speed in the 60-minute final session, but Francis said that's not something the team is too concerned about.

"We came back out on new tires later and we were pretty close to that," Francis said. "We didn't better our lap like a couple guys did but we weren't too far off. When we did do that we weren't handling quite as good so we know there is a combination in there that will be pretty good.

"We should be OK. We are pretty fast and had really good speed. That's the biggest thing, if you get too tight you lose your speed. Usually when you're a little bit loose you run pretty quick so it should be interesting."

Kahne needs that speed Sunday -- in a big way.

In his final season with RPM, Kahne has yet to crack the top 12 in points. After a fourth-place run at Atlanta, Kahne was up to 17th, but he has just one top-10 since (Texas -- fifth) and his past four finishes have been 20th or worse.

But at Charlotte, Kahne has been the man to beat. He and Kyle Busch are the only drivers with five top-10s in the past five races. Since 2006, Kahne has finished eighth or better in all but one CMS event with three wins and an average finish of 5.75.

"I know what I need at this track and I know what the car needs to feel like," Kahne said. "We have been able to hit on that a few times. We missed it last week [in the All-Star Race], but hopefully we learned from that."

Most of Kahne's success at Charlotte came with the wing on the back of the Cup car. In his first Charlotte race with a spoiler, he struggled to a 15th-place finish in the All-Star Race.

Despite the disappointing run a week ago, Francis doesn't think the switch to the spoiler was the reason.

"It's not a whole lot different with the spoiler versus the wing," Francis said. "It seems like the tires are the biggest difference. Everyone is a little bit tighter this year with a stiffer left side tire but I think it's more the tire than the spoiler."

Being fast in practice is great, but Saturday's sessions were run in the afternoon -- Sunday's race will finish deep into the night. Kahne understands that his speed Saturday doesn't necessarily translate to success on Sunday.

"If you are going to be fast at night, you won't be the fastest in the day. At least that is the way it has been for my cars here," Kahne said. "Usually we start off too loose in the day and you bide your time. You just have to be patient and work hard."

At 21st in points, staying positive can be tough. But coming to a track with the mindset you are the one to beat can bring you an extra spark when the green falls, and Kahne expects to be pacing the field under the stars Sunday night.

"We have always run up front here," Kahne said. "And that is exciting when you are coming to a track on a big weekend like this and you feel like you have a shot."

Related:
• Coke 600: Practice 1 | Practice 2 | Practice 3 |Lineup