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Kahne riding a wave of success
Coca-Cola 600 victory was second in a row for Evernham driver, who had been slumping
AP Photo
Brian Vickers led 61 laps before his left-rear wheel broke.
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Published: May 27, 2008
CONCORD - Dale Earnhardt Jr. may well be right when he says that the NASCAR winged car is almost bipolar, with distinctly different personalities: When you're out front and sailing, things seem fine. But if you're back in traffic with everybody else, it's a demon.
But then how to explain Kasey Kahne and Ray Evernham's suddenly rejuvenated Dodge team?
Kahne, as NASCAR officials point out, went from last to first in the All-Star race in which there was little other action, and no cautions, despite there being $1 million on the line. And then Kahne and Evernham came back for the Coca-Cola 600 and did it all again, but in quite different fashion.
NASCAR executives Brian France, John Darby and Brett Bodine were all smiles in saying they still planned no changes in the car, despite widespread anger among drivers and crew chiefs about the difficulty in finding a decent setup and driving the thing through the corners.
Listen to Greg Biffle, a pretty wild-and-carefree driver who rarely complains.
Biffle, who may have taken the point for Ford, finished second to Kahne for the second straight week. But he wasn't happy at all at the end of the 600.
"I experienced some things with the car that are new for me," Biffle griped. "We made some slight adjustments, put tires on … and the thing got so loose like something was broken. I couldn't drive it.
"I almost wrecked. Felt like I had a flat tire, so I pitted under green.
"It just drove completely different from one run to the other. I think we've got some issues with the way the car lands in the corner.
"It is really, really hard because it is frustrating -- you feel, when the car is pushing, like you've got one arm tied behind your back.
"And then if it's too loose, you're about ready to bust your butt every lap and you're holding your breath and you can't drive around other cars.
"You get it right for about eight laps and you're thinking ‘Man, this is great. Look out, here I come.' And then you about spin out and wreck."
That's the way that most drivers describe things with the winged car.
But now, suddenly Kahne has apparently found the next new trick: "Dale Jr. was strong, Tony Stewart was strong, Kyle Busch was strong, and we were back and forth with all of them."
Indeed, the 600 was a back-and-forth affair all night.
With most drivers short on gas at the end, a final round of green-flag splash-and-goes shook things up, beginning with 25 miles to go. After the cycle, Stewart was back in the lead with seven laps to go and pulling away.
"At the end I was thinking second," Kahne said. "Then I saw Tony slow up, and I thought he was out of gas."
Flat tire.
"From there I just tried to hit my marks," Kahne said.
Kahne's 2007 was disastrous, particularly so after a brilliant 2006. So have things turned? Two good weeks at Concord typically are some exclamation points.
Kahne said his All-Star win and his speed Sunday night showed in the faces of his competitors: "You race with them each week and you race each other a certain way ... but when your speed gets up, other people race you a little different. It makes them think a little different. It changes their mind-set."
And Kahne's too: "I definitely have smiled a lot more the last couple of weeks."
Take the good karma and run with it.
Maybe into the championship chase? Kahne missed it last season, and wasn't even close to making the cut.
But Sunday's win puts him back in the top 12.
"Obviously we want to win races, but the main goal is to be in the top 12 with 10 races to go," he said.
Of course, this track has long been a good one for Kahne, so the trick will be for him and Kenny Francis, his crew chief, to show success at Dover's concrete one-mile track, Pocono's flat triangular 21/2-mile track, Michigan's fast two-mile track, and Sonoma's twisting road course in the coming weeks.
Francis, still, was clearly pleased Sunday night as midnight rolled around: "We had a really good car all night; we led quite a few laps….
"Tony was just a tick better at the end. It was going to come down to a gas-and-go at the end, and I knew how much gas we needed, and I knew how much Tony had to take.
"I knew he had us beat on gas. So I just made sure we got enough to finish the race … because he definitely had us beat on pit-road time."
Stewart's flat tire didn't play well in that camp. Stewart jawed with crew chief Greg Zipadelli over having him run the final 150 miles on the same set of tires. Francis said his tire gauges showed that changing for new rubber at the 100-mile mark was a safer call.
So Stewart, after having a tire go flat while holding a five-second lead with three laps to go, was angry enough to throw his helmet and storm off into the night without comment.
Momentum in this sport waxes and wanes, frequently with alarming capriciousness, as Evernham knows so well: "Sometimes it just takes one thing to get momentum going.
"These guys, they're winners, they've won a lot of races for me, they seem to be clicking again, now they've got momentum."
It was a milestone for George Gillett Jr., Evernham's team partner and the majority owner. "There really was a turning point, in my opinion," Gillett said. "And it was the fans -- when the fans voted Kasey in last weekend, it changed everything."
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
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