How does the pressure of a team being in the Chase affect both your racing as far as preparation going into the event and what transpires on the track. What does the pressure of the Chase do?

KASEY KAHNE: The two months leading into the Chase, the pressure, the points are so close from fifth to 15th this year, that pressure was intense and that’s where the team was bringing great race cars. I couldn’t make any mistakes and we had to be really on top of our game to make the Chase and we did that and now being in the Chase it’s the same thing. So really we have been doing that for a while now, and you know, just trying to get every point we can, the best finish as possible, and I think the final practice leading into each race is really critical for the following day.

Q. Wondering if you think maybe NASCAR should maybe mix up the schedule of the Chase itself, it’s kind of like the equivalent of maybe having the Super Bowl in the same city every single year. What are your thoughts on that?

KASEY KAHNE: I think some of the tracks we go to right now are really good for myself and our whole Budweiser team. They are also good for Jimmie Johnson and good for a lot of drivers. I had no problems with the way it is now, but to switch it up and things, I don’t know how that would work out. I think the way it is now, it’s pretty good, and you could switch it up but that would change so many races throughout the rest of the season, too, to get the scheduling right. I think it would be kind of a tough deal.

Continue reading “Kasey Kahne: Q & A”

Highlighting the Class of 2010:

Dale Earnhardt

Earnhardt co-holds the record for most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships (seven) with Richard Petty. In only his second full season, 1980, Earnhardt nabbed his first championship. He won consecutive titles on three separate occasions (1986-87, ’90-91 and ’93-94). Earnhardt’s 76 victories rank seventh all-time.

He is the all-time leader in race victories at Daytona International Speedway with 34, though the most prominent of them was a while in the making.

In 1998, Earnhardt won his most coveted race – the Daytona 500. The scene was a memorable one, forever etched in the minds of race fans. As Earnhardt’s black No. 3 rolled down pit road, a Daytona 500 winner at last, every crew member from every team lined up to congratulate one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.

Bill France Sr.

Called “Big Bill,” only partly because of his 6-foot-5 stature, France spearheaded NASCAR from its beginning and directed it to its present status as the world’s largest stock-car racing organization. In 1936, he helped lay out the first beach/road course in Daytona Beach; in the first race on the course he finished fifth. Starting in 1938, he helped promote races on the sands of Daytona Beach. In 1947, France became the driving force behind the establishment of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. NASCAR, it was called, resulting from a famous meeting at the Streamline Hotel on State Road A1A in Daytona Beach – a structure that stands to this day, as a racing landmark. “Big Bill” France passed away in June 1992. He left behind a lasting legacy.

Continue reading “…And the NASCAR Class of 2010 is”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Oct. 14, 2009) – The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) announced the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame today that includes: Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Junior Johnson and Richard Petty.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel, consisting of members of the Nominating Committee along with 29 others representing NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, major race track ownership groups, retired drivers, owners and crew chiefs along with motorsports media representatives, met in a closed session in Charlotte, N.C. to vote on the induction class of 2010.

The class was determined by the 51 votes cast by the panel and the nationwide fan vote conducted through NASCAR.COM. The accounting firm of Ernst & Young presided over the tabulation of the votes.

The Class of 2010 will be officially inducted in a ceremony on May 23, 2010, at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte.

Continue reading “Inaugural NASCAR Hall Of Fame Class Announced”

1. Bill France Sr.

2. Richard Petty

3. Bill France Jr.

4. Dale Earnhardt

5. Junior Johnson

The nominees, which include many of the sport’s legendary names and were announced in July, include:
Bobby Allison, Buck Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt, Richie Evans, Tim Flock, Bill France Jr., Bill France Sr., Rick Hendrick, Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Bud Moore, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, David Pearson, Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Fireball Roberts, Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Darrell Waltrip, Joe Weatherly, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough.