BROOKLYN, Mich. -- With four Fords in the top 12 Sunday in the Heluva Good! 400 at Michigan International Speedway, runner-up finisher Kasey Kahne has a slightly renewed outlook on the season.

And with some new power under the hood virtually full time now, he has even more reason to be encouraged.

“

I think we have to keep building on things because I don't believe we are out of the Chase yet. We are right on the edge of it and if we put together some top-fives and top-10s we will have a shot.

”

-- KASEY KAHNE

"We made a huge gain and were way better than we have been. I don't like watching [Denny Hamlin] drive away from me, but I wasn't surprised when he did. I thought we had a really good car and really good effort by our whole team but the No. 11 was just a touch better," said Kahne who spent the final 20 laps of Sunday's race chasing race winner Hamlin but to no avail despite a late-race caution.

Ford's FR9 -- ran across all nine teams this weekend at Michigan for the first time -- provided a significant advantage for Kahne, who had not run the new engine last week at Pocono Raceway.

"Last week I couldn't draft. I could get a run off the corner but when I got to the straightaway, they would pull away from me. That shouldn't happen, you should be able to get the draft and suck up," Kahne explained. "[Ford] has been working hard on this engine and it was nice to get it because I was able to suck up to the car in front of me, which is how it is supposed to work."

Greg Biffle, Ford's second highest finishing driver in ninth, said he continues to see a measurable difference in the new FR9 engine.

"We definitely have the power now," Biffle said. "The power is there, we just need to work and get the car handling better. If we do that we should be able to get things figured out."

With the playing field a bit more level for Ford drivers, Kahne feels like his team can spend more time perfecting other elements required to win races.

Sunday marks Kahne's first top-10 finish since Texas in April and his best finish since Talladega last season, where he also posted a runner-up finish.

"I think we have to keep building on things because I don't believe we are out of the Chase yet," Kahne said. "We are right on the edge of it and if we put together some top-fives and top-10s we will have a shot."

Finishes like Sunday's tend to offset any frustration Kahne might have trying to figure out where he might land in 2011. Two months ago he announced his departure from RPM for Hendrick Motorsports, however the four-car Chevrolet team is tied up contractually until 2012.

Kahne is in line to replace Mark Martin in the No. 5 car when Martin climbs out in 2012.

"When you have bad weeks and things happening, it gets frustrating," Kahne said. "Yeah, you look ahead and think about it and maybe that you can't wait, but I made a commitment to Ray Evernham, George Gillett and Richard Petty and I intend to stick to it whether somebody doesn't like me there or whatever.

"I am going to stick to my commitment because I have worked hard there for six or seven years and Rick Hendrick is working on the rest, so it's nice to have
someone like that working on the next five years of my career."

Michigan Video
• Press Pass: Kasey Kahne