Kasey Kahne Racing – Results Recap
September 23 through September 30
 
Freemont Speedway; A Character Building Night
 
With five races remaining in the 2013 World of Outlaws series, KKR headed to Freemont Speedway in Ohio last Saturday night. Daryn Pittman had another potential race-winning performance going when running in the second position late in the race and contact from another car sent him spinning. Daryn and the Great Clips/ASE/Sage Fruit team came from 28th to ninth in the final 10 laps of the race.
 
Cody Darrah and the SurePoint/ASE/Sage Fruit team also had a fast run in the A-main going when a broken power steering pump relegated them to a 28th place finish when the checkered flag fell.
 
Daryn Pittman still holds a 52-point lead over Donny Schatz.
 
The series heads to Williams Grove (PA) this Friday and Saturday night.
 
Brad Sweet again was in the No. 5 JR Motorsports Great Clips Chevrolet in Saturday’s race at Dover International Speedway. The team finished 13th after qualifying seventh, with the final 167 of 200 laps going caution free.

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
AMANDA ELLIS:  Good morning, everyone.  Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference.  We are joined by Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.  Kahne won last week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway and currently sits seventh in the championship standings. He has one victory at Auto Club Speedway, the site of this weekend’s Auto Club 400.  Kasey, last year at this point you were 32nd in the standings and ended up finishing with your career best points finish.  Now you have one victory and are seventh in points after four races.  What does a strong start to the season mean to your championship hopes for 2013?
 
KASEY KAHNE:  Well, yeah, the championship is still a long ways away, but I think a good start.  Just off to a much better start than last year. Feel good about that.  We got a little behind at the start of the season and fought back clearly in the last two weeks and got back to a good spot.  So I feel good about where we’re at, feel good about the speed of our car and our team, and that’s what it’s all about is just being on the right page, same page with all the guys.  Right now we’re really working well together and enjoying it, and we have some momentum and confidence after Bristol and really looking forward to Fontana.
 
I’ve always enjoyed racing there, and I think this new car is going to create a better race at that track, a more aggressive race.  As slippery as Auto Club is, it’s just going to make it even a little better for us.
Q.  I wanted to ask you about you and Kenny, and if you could kind of pick a couple of reasons why you feel like you two work so well together. Are you similar personalities?  Is it just a comfort level you have now?  And the second part of the question is when did you know that you two were going to stick together throughout all of the changes with teams and manufacturers and all of that?
KASEY KAHNE:  Yeah, all right.  I would say probably our personalities as far as neither one of us like talk a lot if we don’t need to.  We kind of just ‑‑ we talk when we feel like we need to and we’re usually on the same page I think because of that.
 
Between that, work ethic, he’s nonstop trying to figure out how to make his race cars faster, and I try to do everything I can to know about the car and also physically and mentally I’m as prepared as I can be.  So I think we’re just ‑‑ we see what each other does and really like it, and the communication is there, which is a big part of what we do, being able to communicate with someone and understand and being on the same page more often than not.  So that’s key for us.
 
And as far as going through all the different teams and different ‑‑ man, we’ve had some things thrown at us over the years, and we’ve just always stuck together.  At the end of each year we’ve talked, and sometimes he’d be like, man, do you want me to still be your crew chief or do you want this or what are you thinking, and I mean, we were just always kind of up front with each other, and it was just easy to say that I don’t want anybody different for myself.  I feel like he’s given me more opportunities to win in the situations we’ve been in than anybody else ever would have.  I just have a lot of respect for Kenny Francis.
Q.  How far along do you feel like you understand this new car after a month of racing it?
KASEY KAHNE:  I feel like I understand it pretty well, between the testing last year and ‑‑ you know, to me the only thing that threw me off this year was Phoenix, and that was ‑‑ to me it was the tire.  I mean, it was such a different tire than what we had raced there before, than what we had raced on before, and so it kind of threw me off, the feel and everything that we were looking for.
 
We were still decent early in the race but fell apart the last half of the race, and I would say that threw me off.  I don’t think the car did.  Other than that, I think the cars really reacted just how I expected it to at these other racetracks, and it’s been a good thing, and that’s why I think Fontana is going to be a solid race, better than what it’s been before, because of the grip, entry at the corner that we have now, and I think Fontana you’re usually off the gas for so long just waiting for your car to do something, and I think with the car this year we should be able to be a lot more aggressive and really push harder than what we have before.
Q.  A lot of times you’re going to be testing this car obviously throughout the year with the number of tests that you get.  Is there any danger to being so good so early in the sense of maybe you won’t try ‑‑ you won’t just be throwing things at it to try and may not learn maybe as much as some other teams might be who are struggling?
KASEY KAHNE:  Yeah, I think there’s different ways to look at that.  I think our stuff is handling really well early in the season, so that’s a ‑‑ just a huge effort by Hendrick Motorsports.  That opens, do we test early in the year, do we wait closer to the Chase and try to learn some things when that time of the season comes along, and I think it just leaves it up to us.  It gives us a we can do it when we want, when the crew chiefs think it’s the right time to test and prepare better at these tracks that we’re going to, and so I think by starting off strong it just gives us all a little bit more time to figure all this stuff out, which I think is a good thing.
Q.  Although you didn’t get the results you wanted those first couple races, you’ve had really good cars in every race this year.  Did you kind of reach a point of frustration there early when you didn’t get the finishes or was that pretty easy to move through?
KASEY KAHNE:  The Daytona one was kind of tough on me.  I’ve never had a car that fast at Daytona, at any race at Daytona, and especially the Daytona 500.  That was tough to figure that out and understand how I ended up crashing when we were running single file around the top just kind of waiting because that’s all you could do with that package is you just kind of wait until later on to race.
 
So yeah, I was discouraged with that one, and it took me a couple days to get over it.
 
Phoenix we just missed it a little bit.  I missed it probably with some of my feedback on the car, and we just didn’t get it done at Phoenix.  So that one wasn’t as bad because we just ‑‑ I think that was ‑‑ we worked hard and just didn’t hit on it, and then in the last two weeks we’ve been fast and have stepped up and finished the deal both weeks and been right there going for the win.
Q.  You mentioned a few months ago about the tires at Phoenix and we’re hearing a lot of talk about tires this year and the new car.  Is that a situation where once you’re on the track for the first time you can actually sort of feel the difference when the tire is different, or is it just coming in the lap times and that sort of thing?
KASEY KAHNE:  No, as soon as you get on the track you can feel the tires.  You can tell they’re different coming up through the gears, and by the time you get into the corner and things, you can start kind of figuring out how they handle and what it does.  I’ve been on tracks before where ‑‑ I was doing a tire test one time at Indianapolis, which is its own unique racetrack, and Goodyear put on the tire that we raced ‑‑ at that point in time they put on the tire that we raced at California Speedway, and I came in, I ran like probably six or eight laps, and I came in, and I said, this tire makes me feel like I’m at California Speedway.  Everything feels the exact same and we’re at Indianapolis, and they said, wow,
that’s the California tire, no wonder. And I had no clue it was the California tire, but I felt like I was at California.
 
So to me tires are such a huge part of what ‑‑ such a huge part of the race car and how it goes around the corner.  There’s so much that goes into the tires, and Goodyear just ‑‑ they have a huge ‑‑ to me a huge responsibility to make sure that we’re racing on the best tires we can, the safest tires, the best tires to create great side‑by‑side racing.  I know they work really hard at it, but they have a big responsibility that they take on to have the tire for NASCAR.  It’s very meaningful.
Q.  Please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seemed like whenever we had a caution, then we got the green flag on a restart, your car did not come out of the hole fast.  It seemed like it took a couple of laps before the car was full of racing power.  Did you feel that way or was it something that you were doing?
KASEY KAHNE:  Yeah, no, I felt that way.  I thought my restarts weren’t too bad, getting down the front stretch.  I’ve been working really hard on that to get them better.  And I felt like the majority of the restarts throughout the race I could come out in second or first if I was leading off of Turn 2. But for the next six to 10 laps I would struggle to go as fast as probably the three to four cars around me and either get past or kind of hold my position but the leader would slowly getaway maybe a half straightaway or so.  And then after 10 laps my car would come in and it was like that the entire race, every run it didn’t that except on two tires it didn’t do that.
 
So I was kind of confused by that, but we’ve done that before.  There’s been plenty of tracks over the years that for whatever reason, the way I kind of like the feel of the car or something, it doesn’t necessarily take off as good as some of the other guys the first 5 or 10 laps.  Even at Vegas for 10 laps, 5 to 10 laps, I couldn’t really go fast quite as fast as some of the guys, and instantly, whether it was Kyle Busch or Jimmie Johnson or whoever it was, I’d reel them in, drive by them and drive away, and I felt like that was very similar to Bristol.  It must just be something that I do or something that I look for in the feel of the car.
Q.  Your consistency seems to be on the upswing.  Do you believe in momentum, and what do good results do most for your team?
KASEY KAHNE:  Yeah, I definitely believe in momentum.  I know I’ve tried to work hard over the years to get more consistent because that was definitely my weak spot since I’ve been in the Sprint Cup Series.  Yeah, I feel really good about where we’re at right now, and the momentum is huge. Confidence, momentum, from the driver to the pit crew to the crew chief, I mean, every aspect of putting our car on the track, I think when you have momentum and confidence it helps.  I’ve been in situations before where I’ve felt like everything was fine, like I wasn’t ‑‑ like I was driving every bit as hard as I usually do and all that, and then I won a race and realized, man, now I’m like rejuvenated and have a boost of energy again to race and things.
 
So I think it definitely helps, and sometimes you don’t realize it, but when you are on the upswing and things are going well, everybody feels it, and it’s a big part of running well.
Q.  Being back on top with the No. 5 in the Hendrick Motorsports must feel rather good.  Speak a little bit about getting No. 5, which is kind of a favorite of Rick Hendrick, back in the winner’s circle.
KASEY KAHNE:  Yeah, it feels really good.  I mean, it feels ‑‑ every day I wake up and know that I’m part of Hendrick Motorsports it feels good, and then to get a win early in the season, such a competitive series and do it in the 5 car, I was ‑‑ I was having a great week.  I feel really good about it, and it’s great to get those calls from Mr. H, and when he’s excited and happy that we were able to pull it off and put an entire race together and win, it makes it all pretty exciting and fun.  Yeah, the 5 is the car they started with, so that car needs to go to victory lane some of the time.  I know the 48 visits victory lane a lot and the 24 and things, but yeah, it’s nice when we can get the 5 over there, also.
Q.  Coming up there’s California, Fontana.  What do you look forward to going to that race this coming weekend?
KASEY KAHNE:  I look forward to just the really wide racetrack, the speeds will be up, you can move around usually from the white line all the way to the wall, just about run right against the wall on a big, two‑mile racetrack, and just trying to ‑‑ it’s pretty technical because of the seams there where the track is paved and then it stops and then it starts another paving section, and the seams are pretty thick, they’re pretty wide I guess you would say.  So getting on top of those seams can be rough, just figuring out how to get the car go around all that stuff and make good laps.  To me I’m really excited because I think we’ll be able to drive harder than we’ve ever been able to drive at Fontana in a Sprint Cup car, and I’m really looking forward to that.  I think it’s going to be pretty exciting.
Q.  I’m curious about one of your initial comments about explain the better race scenario for the fans.  What do you anticipate the cars to do, packs of cars, two by two?  If you would explain that for us.
KASEY KAHNE:  Well, to me I feel like a lot of times at that track you go down the straightaway, and when you go to get in the corner you’re so loose behind other cars and the back is slippery, or the back is tight behind ‑‑ or the front is tight behind other cars so you’re kind of pushing the nose, and you have to pick a lane and really ease into the corners pretty gently, I guess.
 
I feel like with this car, so far this year at Bristol and in Las Vegas we’ve been able to really charge the corner and push a lot harder every lap of the race run, and I think it’ll be the same way at Auto Club.
 
I just think that you’re going to be able to drive it in the corner harder, make more aggressive moves getting into the corner and through the middle of the corner, and that’s something that we haven’t had there before.  So to me it’s going to create a much better race to where you’ll be able to pass and make those moves a little bit easier is what I’m hoping for.
Q.  You have your short track and your long track cars.  Is there any kind of a lucky charm in taking the Bristol car and retrofitting it to California to just take that momentum with you to another race?
KASEY KAHNE:  Well, I kind of beat that car up a little bit late in the race, made contact with a couple guys, and it won’t be available this weekend.
But we raced that same car at Phoenix, and it’s a really good car.  The car we raced at Las Vegas was a great car, and that’s what we’re taking to California ‑‑ no, I don’t think that’s the car we’re taking to California, never mind.  But it’s in good shape for Texas or whatever the next track will be.  I think California will be a new car, which will be I’d imagine just as good as the other ones, and they’ve been really fast.
Q.  Taking you off the track for a quick second, are you glad the race season is underway and you’re not asked to do Dancing With the Stars?
KASEY KAHNE:  Absolutely.  I race.  That’s all I really want to do is race cars.  I’ve been able to my whole life, and I enjoy it.  I love every bit of it. To be able to think about racing each week, whether we’re doing appearances or testing or whatever it may be during the week and then you get to go and race a Sprint Cup car on Saturday or Sunday from here until the end of November, I’m loving what’s going on.
Q.  No Dancing With the Stars in your future?
KASEY KAHNE:  Well, I don’t know how to
dance, so I don’t think I’ll ever go on that show.  It wouldn’t be a good one for me.
 
AMANDA ELLIS:  Kasey, thank you for joining us today and best of luck this weekend in California, and thank you to all the media for joining us, as well.
 

Kasey Kahne Racing’s Pittman to Debut at Volusia Speedway Park
World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars start at UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit
 
BARBERVILLE, Fla. – Jan. 11, 2013 – It’s been a long, eventful offseason for Daryn Pittman.
There’s the annual Chili Bowl, where Pittman races his own midget each January to start the year, and a flight to Australia for some competition against the Aussies.

Oh, and then there’s that ride change that happened.

Pittman now drives for Kasey Kahne Racing, which he will debut in the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series season-opening event – the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment at Volusia Speedway Park Feb. 12-23.

Pittman and the rest of the sprint car drivers have a practice night on Tuesday, Feb. 12, before five straight nights of racing on the fast half mile.

“It’s a long year, a lot of races,” he said. “You want to start off strong and try to keep that momentum going, but at the end of the day it’s a long year.”

Volusia Speedway Park hosts the All Star Circuit of Champions on Feb. 13-14 before the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars hit the track for their first official dates of the 2013 season Feb. 15-17.

While Pittman and a variety of other drivers have spent part of the offseason racing at the Chili Bowl, in Australia or New Zealand, or on an X-box, the start of the season will be fresh for the more than 30 top-notch drivers who are headed to the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit.

“Everybody is going in with a clean slate,” Pittman said. “I like a new track or a place we haven’t raced in a while.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 19, 2012
 
 
KASEY KAHNE TAKES POLE POSITION FOR SUNDAY’S HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
NEW TRACK RECORD AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY
 
KANSAS CITY, KS – October 19, 2012 – Kasey Kahne earned the pole position for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 by posting a new track record on the newly repaved and reconfigured Kansas Speedway with his No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet of 28.219 seconds, 191.360 mph.  This marked Kahne’s 26th NASCAR Sprint Cup career pole and moved him into a tie for 26th on the all-time series poles list with Bobby Labonte. His lap around the 1.5-mile oval was Kahne’s fourth pole of the 2012 season and third in 11 races at Kansas Speedway.

All 46 drivers in today’s qualifying session turned a faster lap than the previous track record of 180.856 mph set by Matt Kenseth (Ford) in 2005.
 
Three other Team Chevy drivers will start the 400-mile race in the top ten.  Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Code 3 Associates Chevy will start sixth, five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson will roll off seventh in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy, and Kevin Harvick will start 10th in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet.  All four Chevy drivers in the top-10 starting line-up are contenders in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
 
Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevy who is also in the Chase, will start 19th, and Tony Stewart, defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and a Chase contender will start from the 33rd position in his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet.
 
The field of 16 Chevy drivers includes Regan Smith, substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 National Guard/Mountain Dew Chevrolet, qualified 39th; and Danica Patrick, competing in the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevy rolls off 40th.
 
The Hollywood Casino 400, Round 32 on the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tour, gets underway on Sunday, October 21st at 1:00 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN-TV.
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER
POST-QUALIFYING DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN OUT THERE TODAY: 
“It was a good lap.  Our car felt really good.  I came to the green as fast as I had throughout the practices.  I got through (turns) one and two pretty good.  In (turn) three I got in and then off of turn four I had to lift just a little bit, kind of lost the front tires, but still was able to run a quick lap there and get the pole.  I was really happy.  Our team has done a nice job this week.  We have been here for a few days it’s been cold.  The track is great I feel like the guys did a really nice job here at Kansas Speedway repaving making the track what it is.  It is going to be tough this weekend, but from here out I think it is going to be one of the best tracks we go.  I feel like you can look at it and tell the lines, the grooves that will come in as the track gets some wear into it and some age.  I think it will be a lot of fun to race on.  It’s smooth and all the transitions are really nice.” 
 
EVERYBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THIS IS A NEW TRACK, BUT THIS IS YOUR THIRD POLE NOW HOW NEW IS IT TO YOU?  WHAT IS YOUR SECRET HERE?
“Well someone had to get it today (laughs) and it worked out for us.  It was close.  I didn’t see what Clint (Bowyer) ran but I know that myself and Mark (Martin) were really close together.  It’s fast, it’s smooth, and it’s a great track.  We have run pretty well here in the past so I’ve kind of always liked Kansas.  I’ve liked how you have been able to move around and run a lot of different lines and things.  I feel like this track will go there eventually.  We will be able to move all over.  It doesn’t really feel anything like the old track, but we just had a really good balance today and we were able to put down a good lap.”
 
YOU ARE STARTING FIRST, FIRST PIT STALL AND ALL THAT.  BRAD (KESELOWSKI) IS STARTING 25TH CONSIDERING THAT THE SECOND GROOVE HASN’T WORKED IN YET HOW BIG OF AN OPPORTUNITY DO YOU THINK THIS IS TO MAKE UP SOME GROUND IN TERMS OF THE CHASE?
“Well I think it could be a pretty big one.  I think those guys will really figure out how to go fast in race trim.  That is what they have done all season long.  They haven’t qualified great really this whole year, but they know how to race.  With strategy and however they will figure out how to get to the front if they are fast enough to stay up there.  You know you will see the No. 2 car at some point.  They have shown that all season long, but for ourselves we have a great starting spot, we have a great pit stall a lot of things from today will help us throughout the entire race not just the start of the race.  I feel really good about where we are at and if we can capitalize and make the right decisions, get the right balance of the car hopefully we can gain some points.”
 
MARK MARTIN AND CLINT BOWYER TALKED ABOUT HOW TOMORROW’S RACE IS GOING TO BE EXTREMELY CRITICAL TO HOW WELL THE TRACK IS ON SUNDAY HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT SAME SITUATION?
“I feel the exact same way.  I think the rubber from tomorrows race, the rubber from our practices tomorrow we will have two hours of practices, all that will help the track.  If it gets a little warmer around here, gets some sun out, I think all that will help the track also.  To just get a better base to run on and hopefully move off that white line a little bit to where we can open up the entries and exits and have a better shot to pass if you are a good bit quicker than the car in front of you.  Either way it’s going to be tough to pass regardless, but with all that rubber and the heat and things hopefully it will help some.  That is really all we can ask for after a repave.”
 
COMING INTO A RACE TRACK WHERE NOBODY HAS ANY REAL EXPERIENCE RACING ON IT DO YOU SEE IT AS A REAL GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO MAYBE MAKE THE GAINS? WHAT DOES IT DO TO THE CHASE TO HAVE THIS KIND OF A THING THROWN INTO THE MIDDLE WITH ONLY FIVE RACES TO GO?
“I think it’s a bit of a wild card.  It’s not a Talladega wild card, but it’s a bit of a wild card because you have to pick up on the surface.  The only thing to me is it is pretty similar to Michigan.  The size of the track isn’t but the surface, the corners for whatever reason I think it feels really similar to Michigan.  The guys that are running well right now ran pretty well at Michigan.  I would say they will figure it out.  We had a great run today but everybody will figure it out for Sunday.  We just need to try to stay ahead of them if we can.”
 
YOU TALK ABOUT EVERYBODY UP FRONT WILL GET BETTER AND THAT MEANS YOU ARE GOING TO CATCH SOME OF THE CARS IN THE BACK WHO AREN’T AT THE SAME LEVEL AS THE REST OF THE TEAMS.  HOW TOUGH IS PASSING GOING TO BE WHEN YOU GET UP TO A SLOWER CAR LIKE THAT?
“Some of it you will be able to set up and you will be able to get by, but once you get to a car you can go back to Michigan for example.  Mark Martin caught the No. 47 and No. 42 and they ran side-by-side and Mark just rode behind them.  I caught them and I went to pass Mark next thing you know we are all crashing.  It was just the No. 47 and No. 42 screwed up then we are all crashing.  He (Mark Martin) didn’t go anywhere once he caught cars I think they were probably in 30th or 35th I don’t know how far back they were.  Mark was at a dead stop.  It makes it difficult for sure.  This track is a little different than that track so hopefully we will have a better shot at passing and the longer those races went at Michigan the better the racing got and the more it opened up.  The first race run there (Michig
an) it was tough.  You could hardly pass a car that you’d just reeled in that you were running five tenths a lap faster you couldn’t pass them when you got to him.”

Joey Saldana, piloting the #9 Great Clips/Sage Fruit Maxim, ended Friday’s roller-coaster ride with a smile on his face.

Saldana’s KKR teammate, Cody Darrah, had a solid night in Paducah as well. He qualified his #4 Sage Fruit/ASE car in the 14th position and finished sixth in his heat. He started the A-main event in 14th and worked his way up to eighth. He is now eighth in the point standings

The Sage Fruit Showdown Recap  
Kasey Kahne helped the World of Outlaws return to the Talladega short track for the first time since 2004. The Sage Fruit Showdown was a thrilling 35-lap event at the 1/3rd mile, high banked oval and presented 19 year-old David Gravel his first career WoO victory. Kahne also had a strong showing in the event, scoring an eighth-place finish driving the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet/Sage Fruit Maxim.

Darrah qualified 13th at the Sage Fruit Showdown and finished sixth in his heat. He started the A-main event in 13th. Darrah finished the A-main event in 20th and is currently 10th in points with one event remaining in 2011.

Riding an emotional high into Eldora Speedway on Friday night, Joey Saldana returned to the site of his greatest victories and scariest crashes with hopes of winning his second-consecutive World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series race since missing nine weeks to injury.

Joey Saldana triumphed at Hartford Motor Speedway in Michigan on Wednesday night after returning behind the wheel of the # 9 Red Bull Maxim for the first time since an injury sidelined him in July.

 
The Kasey Kahne Racing crew finished up their second trip of the year to the west coast last weekend where McMahan scored his fourth victory of the season at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Cali.

-Cody Darrah, driver of the #91 Great Clips/Sage Fruit/ASE Maxim

On Friday night Brad qualified seventh, won his heat, finished sixth in the dash and finished seventh in the A-main.

Saldana wins at Beaver Dam
The World of Outlaws Series competed on Friday night at Cedar Lake Speedway and Saturday night at Beaver Dam in Wisconsin. Saldana posted his fourth win of the season on Saturday at Beaver Dam, while Paul McMahan finished third, Brad Sweet finished fifth and Cody Darrah finished 11th.

-Joey Saldana, driver of the #9 Red Bull/Sage Fruit/ASE Maxim

On Friday night, Saldana qualified third, finished third in his heat, fifth in the dash and eighth in the A Main.

On Saturday, Saldana let out a big breath before crawling out of his Kasey Kahne Racing #9 Red Bull Maxim in the Beaver Dam Raceway victory lane. He had just held off Craig Dollansky to win the Jim Boyd Memorial for his fourth victory of the season, but his first win since early May. Saldana is now within six points of the point’s leader.

“It feels great to be back in victory lane after the past month,” said Saldana, of Brownsburg, Ind. “A good start has kept us in this points battle and if you’re going to beat guys like Donny Schatz and Jason Meyers, you have to be spot on, night after night. We haven’t been doing that lately. It’s been a struggle. It’s easy to lose your confidence out here but this win helps. The high line was good for us and I knew Craig was closing in but I was just patient and held on.”

-Brad Sweet, driver of the #49 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet/Sage Fruit Maxim

Brad Sweet rejoined the World of Outlaws on Friday night and posted an impressive fifth-place finish in the A main after starting from the third position.

On Saturday night, Brad Sweet started off with a 15th-place qualifying effort, but rallied back with a fourth-place finish in his heat. Sweet started the A main in the 15th position and fought his way up to fifth for his second-consecutive top-five finish of the weekend.

-Paul McMahan, driver of the #83 HR Cattle/Roth Motorsports Maxim

On Friday night, McMahan qualified second, finished fifth in his heat, sixth in the dash and 23rd in the A main following a part failure.

On Saturday night, McMahan found himself in position to post his third win of the season. Pole-sitter Brooke Tatnell tried to hold on to the lead but saw McMahan rocket by out of turn four to lead lap one. McMahan opened up considerable advantages as the race wore on but was caught in lapped traffic as the low line bottled up and allowed his teammate, Saldana, to slide past on the outside. McMahan brought home a third-place finish and remains seventh in the point standings.

“We tried a softer tire for the feature and that probably hurt us as the night wore on,” said McMahan, of Nashville, Tenn. “Hats off to the crew, though. They had me up front and this thing was incredibly fast all night long.”

-Cody Darrah, driver of the #91 Great Clips/Sage Fruit/ASE Maxim

Darrah qualified eighth, finished third in his heat and 12th in the A main on Friday night.

On Saturday, Darrah qualified 17th, finished fifth in his heat and 11th in the A main. He remains ninth in the point standings.

The World of Outlaws Series competed on Friday and Saturday night at Grand Forks, ND. Joey, Paul and Cody posted top-10 finishes on Saturday night.

-Paul McMahan, driver of the #83 HR Cattle/Roth Motorsports Maxim

On Friday night, McMahan qualified sixth, finished fourth in his heat and 10th in the A main.

McMahan qualified 13th on Saturday night, finished first in his heat, ninth in the dash and fought his way to a sixth-place finish in the A Main. He is currently seventh in the point standings.

-Joey Saldana, driver of the #9 Red Bull/Sage Fruit/ASE Maxim

Saldana qualified 11th on Friday night, won his heat and finished second in the dash. In the A main, Saldana posted a fifth-place finish.

On Saturday, Saldana qualified 11th, won his heat and finished eighth in the dash. He finished fourth in the A main, posting his 13th top-five of the 2011 season. He is currently second in points, 10 markers behind Donny Schatz.

-Cody Darrah, driver of the #91 Great Clips/Sage Fruit/ASE Maxim

Trouble found Darrah on Friday night. After qualifying fourth and finishing fourth in his heat, engine trouble in the A main would relegate Darrah to a 20th-place finish.

On Saturday night, Darrah qualified second in the #91 Great Clips Maxim, finished fourth in his heat and sixth in the dash. He finished 10th in the A main and posted his 11th top-10 of the 2011 season. He is currently eighth in the point standings.

-Brad Sweet, driver of the #49 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet/Sage Fruit Maxim

Brad Sweet has been racing at Ohio Speedweeks. On Friday night at Attica Raceway Park, Sweet finished 15th. On Saturday night at KC Raceway Sweet finished 17th.  Rain has plagued most of Speedweeks. Sweet hopes to race at Sharon Speedway tonight.

Kasey Kahne Racing Eldora Recap
 It was another solid night for Kasey Kahne Racing on Friday night at Eldora Speedway. Joey Saldana picked up his third win of the season while Paul McMahan and Cody Darrah scored top-10 finishes.
-Joey Saldana, driver of the #9 Red Bull/Sage Fruit/ASE Maxim

Joey Saldana entered Eldora Speedway looking for revenge against the track that cost him a shot at winning his first World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series title last season.

He couldn’t have had a bigger night. Not only did Saldana put the Kasey Kahne Racing Red Bull Maxim in victory lane, he also increased his lead in the 2011 championship battle to 51 points. It was a complete turnaround from last fall, when Saldana was leading the title hunt before he wrecked hard at Eldora and wound up suffering a concussion that prevented him from racing the next night, thereby costing him any chance of contending.

Saldana qualified second, won his heat and won the dash. He led 23 of the 30 scheduled laps in the A main to go on to win his third Outlaws race of the 2011 season.

“I’ve got a huge smile on my face because last year I didn’t know where I was for a few days, that last show I left in a helicopter. This is a lot more fun and gratifying. Definitely coming back from that and winning here, because this is such a tough track, it’s a huge accomplishment for me so I’m very happy for this entire Red Bull Team.”