NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Coca-Cola 600

Topics:  Coca-Cola 600

Kasey Kahne
May 26, 2013

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by our second‑place finisher, Kasey Kahne.
Kasey, currently sitting fifth in points. Talk a little bit about your run tonight.
KASEY KAHNE: Yeah, we had a great car from the drop of the green. Just drove to the front from sixth. Felt really good throughout the race. There were a couple times when I thought Matt might have been a little better than me, but not much. We adjusted and were quicker than him again.
It was definitely our race to lose, especially those last hundred laps. We just thought that some of the guys would stay out. I think there's three cars that just pitted within the last couple laps, five or six laps, just felt like they'd stay out and that would be a big enough buffer to someone who had two or four tires that we could get away. Didn't happen.
Harvick started with two, he held it flat. I got a little free, had to back off the gas. When I went back down, he was in front of me. That was the end of our race. Just made sure we got second from there.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for Kasey.

Q. Kasey, are you feeling better now?
KASEY KAHNE: Yeah. I actually felt pretty good the whole race. As soon as I got in the car, was the best I felt all day. Took some IV packs before the driver's meetings. Once they kicked in, it was the best I felt.
That break wasn't a bad thing for me.

Q. The takeaway from this. Do you look at it as a disappointing night because you didn't win or a good night because you were strong all night?
KASEY KAHNE: Well, I feel really confident with my team after a performance like tonight. They were just on it the entire time. The calls that Kenny made, the adjustments, the way the car was balanced throughout the race, that came from yesterday's practice. I feel great about all that stuff, I have all year.
This is the third time we've been to a mile and a half, I ran second, have been the fastest car at all three of them, but just didn't get the wins. We just got beat.
I feel like we were the best car in all three of them. I feel really good about that. We need a little more at the very end and make sure we can win a couple of these.

Q. Can you talk about the flow of the night, the cable, maybe between the red flag. Was that a distraction and impact the way the race went?
KASEY KAHNE: I thought the cable was unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. I came around turn four, saw it wrapped around Kyle's car, hit mine. I thought I was seeing things, there's no way there could be a cable on the racetrack.
By the time we got to turn one, I saw Kyle's car, his fender, his car went down, like it jerked it down. I never saw anything like it. I knew I wasn't seeing things. I was yelling at him going down the backstretch. We came back around and people were still hitting it.
I was surprised there wasn't a caution a little bit quicker when you have something like that hanging. It was very surprising.
The other red, that's just part of racing. Sometimes there's big enough wrecks you have to go red and give the guys enough space to work on everything safely.

Q. Last week you talked about the fact in the 10‑lap shootout in the end when somebody was in front there was no way to get by them with four fresh tires. Tonight Harvick had the two, you didn't. Was there anything in the last run you thought you would be able to get higher or lower to get a shot at him?
KASEY KAHNE: I knew I was in trouble because my tires were hot. He had cold right sides. That's a big deal. I easily beat Matt earlier in the race with that same thing. He drove away once he got the lead.
If I had a car last week as good as I had tonight, I would have definitely run with Jimmie for those last 10 laps. Would have been a heck of a race.
The car was so much better tonight. The guys did an awesome job to get it where it was. It drove basically perfect for 600 miles. That's tough to do.
THE MODERATOR: Kasey, thank you.
KASEY KAHNE: Thank you.