Kahne surprises Hendrick, advances in Chase

But Busch faded, Kahne rallied and when the engines had stopped in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway the Hendrick Motorsports driver had survived, one of 12 drivers that move into the Contender Round, one step closer to racing for this year’s championship.

“It was seven laps before I said anything,” a relieved Kahne said on pit road when asked about the wheel issue. “I couldn’t believe it was starting to shake. I knew something was going on and then it started getting worse.”

Four laps down and 30th in the running order at one point in the race, Kahne, 34, was able to pick his way back into contention – taking the wave-around (rather than pitting under caution) and then racing his way back into contention for a spot among the Chase drivers.

With every change in position on the track seemingly moving him either in or out of the top-12 in points, Kahne’s future appeared in limbo until the end. When Kurt Busch got around teammate Tony Stewart on Lap 343, Kahne was one point out of picture while Busch was one point to the good.

Kevin Harvick, rallying back from yet another setback, moved around Busch on Lap 364 to put Kahne back in the show. Eventual race winner Jeff Gordon put Busch a lap down (Lap 273); Kahne got around Greg Biffle to gain another spot and when the dust had settled, Kahne was two points to the good.

The loose wheel left him “hoping the cautions didn’t come out or came out at the right time,” Kahne said.

“Really, they just didn’t come out and we had to race, race, race. I never really got nervous at all and I just raced real hard the whole time.

“Kenny (Francis, crew chief) started telling me we were tied for 12th and this was with 30 to go. Then he would tell me we were one point in and then maybe two points in and then he wasn’t positive. Then I started getting a little bit worried, so it was intense inside the car.”

Team owner Rick Hendrick said his driver “made it a pretty long day.”

“When he had to pit under green, I just thought we were done because … (I) didn’t think we could make up two laps, and then we did a wave‑around and it worked out,” he said.

“And then I thought we were OK, and then we were like even or one point behind. I really had written it off about two thirds of the race. I thought we were just not going to get a break to get back in it.”

Francis admitted it was “a little nerve-wracking,” and said his team “was at the mercy of what other people did.

“We wanted to make sure we didn’t get more laps down by short pitting or something and a yellow coming out,” Francis said. “So we had to run longer than we wanted to (under green) a couple of times.

“The 41 (Busch) and the 47 (AJ Allmendinger) had trouble and fell back and that’s what kind of got us in. Our car was really fast all day; we just never could get that lap back.”

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