August 9, 2006

By Rebecca Gladden

Rebecca Gladden

It's hard to know which hit hurt Kasey Kahne more in Sunday's Allstate 400 - his brutal impact with the Indy Motor Speedway wall, or the four spots he lost in the point standings - dropping him out of the Top 10 for just the second time this year.

Kahne has ranked 10th or higher every week since the season's second race back in February. His 12th-place finish in the Daytona 500 accounts for the other only other week that his team spent outside the Top 10.

Since that time, it had been calm seas and smooth sailing for Kahne for a number of weeks, and he appeared to be comfortably headed for the Chase for the Championship, now just five races away.

The No. 9 team was especially strong through the first 15 races of the year, when they scored four wins, four poles, and 10 top-10 finishes.

But the tide seemed to turn suddenly for Kasey at the season's 16th race in Sonoma. Starting that weekend, he scored only one top 10 in six races - an eighth-place finish at Loudon - and had five other finishes that averaged 29th.

Nonetheless, Kahne, who was runner-up to winner Tony Stewart at last year's Brickyard event, was optimistic after qualifying at Indy on Saturday. "I remember last year's race like it was yesterday," he said. "I've got notes and things on my computer to remember different things throughout the race. We'll be ready tomorrow. The guys worked hard and gave me a great car. Our Dodge Charger was as good as any other car out there today."

Perhaps prophetically, however, Kahne hedged his bet a little, despite a solid fourth-place qualifying run.

"Maybe if we don't have any problems tomorrow, it'll be our day," said Kahne.

CIA Stock Photo Kasey Kahne

It's doubtful that even Kahne could have anticipated the bizarre series of last-lap events that led to his vicious collision with the wall and a disappointing 36th-place finish.

As the white flag flew, Jimmie Johnson was cruising toward victory with an almost two-second lead over runner-up Matt Kenseth.

Further back in the pack, Robby Gordon inexplicably slid up into Greg Biffle as they exited Turn 2, wrecking both.

Despite the collision, NASCAR let the race go green and cars continued to fly past the wreck.

Up ahead, Kahne, running 9th, was battling hard for position with several other drivers, including Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards, all hoping for a top-10 finish. "I was trying to get in a battle with all those guys for position - sixth, seventh, eighth - right in there," Kahne explained after the race. "I had to block Edwards and come back to Stewart. Trying to pass Stewart, I got loose. Stewart got right down on me and I got loose, and then I just tried staying off Tony, I guess, and ran into the wall."

The collision was not broadcast live, as television cameras focused on Johnson taking the checkered flag. Seconds later, Kahne's demolished car was seen. Replays of the accident showed him pounding the wall with incredible force. He lowered the window net and climbed out almost immediately.

"It hurt," said Kahne, referring to both the physical and psychological impact of the crash. "It still hurts. But that's racing. I can't believe it happened. We battled that car, battled the tires, battled everything all day trying to get a top 10, and didn't make it back."

For Kahne, who had lead a lap and ran in the top five early in the race, his team's struggles were a bitter pill to swallow.

"It makes you mad. You want to race good. Going into the race, you think you have a shot to win the Allstate 400. You battle as hard as you can for 15th and at the end we start going forward.

"It takes us all day to figure it out, and it's just kind of a pain in the *ss to race like that."

Kahne is now 37 points behind Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who relied on pit strategy late in the race to finish sixth and move into 10th in the points.

Now, with just 252 points separating third-place Jeff Burton from 12th-place Greg Biffle, momentum will be the key factor in determining the final Chase field.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.