Initial frustration gives way to encouragement over Dover results
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DOVER, Del. – Kasey Kahne and Martin Truex Jr. may have initially been frustrated coming up short on a potential first win of the 2015 season in Sunday’s FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks. But once given some time to think big picture both Chevrolet drivers seemed decidedly more encouraged than disappointed by their top-six efforts.
While they may not have had much for eventual race winner Jimmie Johnson in the end, Kahne and Truex raced each other hard in the closing laps – so hard on one restart that after the race, a miffed Truex showed his displeasure by giving Kahne’s No. 5 Farmers Chevrolet a little bump on the cool-down lap.
By the time the drivers emerged from their cars, neither was still particularly upset.
“Our car was inside him and he ran me down to the apron so I either had to let off or wreck all of us so I decided to let off,” said Truex, who finished sixth but for the third consecutive points race led the most laps (131) without winning.
Kahne calmly explained the situation from his perspective.
“He was back behind me to get a run on me, obviously,” Kahne said. “The spotter said I was clear, so I just went to the bottom getting into [turn] one. I think he was a little upset. He gave me a bump after the race. But I didn’t really know what else to do other than to go there with guys on my outside and stuff.”
In the end, Kahne’s fourth-place finish matched his best result of the season (he also finished fourth at Phoenix in March) despite a disappointing qualifying effort.
“Started 25th and drove forward throughout the whole race,” Kahne said. “We got to 12th or 13th and kind of stood there for a little while and [crew chief] Keith [Rodden] found us a way to get track position on the end.
“I was able to get to second on the outside on the restart and basically the guy in fourth got to second on the outside and I ended up fourth. It was kind of just the way it goes late in the race on old tires. We did all we could. We had a pretty good run. … we just came up fourth.”
SHOP: Kahne gear | Truex items
In the previous two races, Truex led the most laps and felt like he had the car that should have driven in Victory Lane but didn’t. This week he conceded the car may not have been a race winner and in this case, salvaging a top-six – his series best 12th top-10 [tying race runner-up Kevin Harvick] was a productive day.
“We had a good car today, but it was never right,'” Truex said of his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet. “We were never right yesterday through practice. We made some changes today and we made some gains on it, but never really got it where we needed it.
“Clean air was huge. When we were out front, we were OK. It just never turned good all day long and it just eventually caught up to us.”
With only one-third of the 36-race schedule completed, the 389 laps led ranks third in a season for Truex. He led 581 laps in 2007 and 434 in 2012.
He remains second in driver points, 44 behind leader Harvick and 32 ahead of third place Johnson – the only multi-race winners on the season.