Kasey Kahne

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nascar_test_lvms_030614_biffleSept. 3, 2015

Staff Report
NASCAR Wire Service

In basketball terms, Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle must hit a buzzer beater to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

With just two races remaining in the regular season, Kahne (-37 points) and Biffle (-83 points) are virtually too far below the points cutoff line to get into NASCAR’s playoffs without a victory.

The two veteran drivers will get the first of their final two chances to take a checkered flag in Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (7 p.m. ET on NBC).

Kahne is no stranger to the pressure of his current “win or go home” situation. Winless heading into Atlanta on Labor Day weekend last season, he piloted his car to Victory Lane in a last-ditch effort to secure a spot in the Chase.

Kahne has never won at Darlington, but does lead active drivers there with four poles and ranks fourth in laps led in the past 10 races at the South Carolina track (327).

“It would mean a ton to win the Southern 500,” Kahne said. “It’s always been one of the races that I’ve wanted to win. We’ve come close but haven’t been able to do it, so to do it in this car that time of the year right before the Chase would be a perfect time.”

Biffle has struggled this season with just two top-five and three top-10 finishes in 24 starts, but he has been successful at Darlington throughout his career. The Roush Fenway Racing driver boasts two wins at the track “Too Tough to Tame” and leads all drivers in laps led there over the last 10 races (637).

“Darlington is a fun place. It’s one of the toughest places that we race,” said Biffle of the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval. “Driving into the corner at 190-plus MPH and sliding up about three or four inches from the fence, or at least you hope that’s where it stops sliding and riding the fence all the way around. It’s a demanding, tough, fast race track and I look forward to going back there with the new package and tires. I’m pretty excited about it.”

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cms_051614_kahneAfter wrecking out of the race for the second straight week at Watkins Glen and falling off the 16-driver Chase Grid last Sunday, Kasey Kahne knows what he has to do to make NASCAR’s playoffs—the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

“At this rate we’re going to need to win,” Kahne said. “That’s the only way we’ll go into the Chase. We’ve got to get a little better. I need to get a little better.”

Kahne has four races left to get that win, starting with Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN).

The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver claims one victory at Michigan (June 2006) and believes he can adapt well to the high-drag track-specific rule package that will be used there this weekend.

“There were times at Indianapolis when we were really quick with that package,” Kahne said. “I know they’re working hard to bring a little less drag and more downforce there for us, all four of us (at Hendrick Motorsports). So hopefully we can run good at Michigan and maybe get a win there.”

Kahne finds himself in a similar position to where he was last year prior to the Chase. Too low in points to qualify without a victory, Kahne won the second-to-last race of the season at Atlanta to punch his ticket into NASCAR’s postseason.

While Michigan is not Kahne’s best track historically, he has proven he can win at a variety of loops, with victories at 11 different venues including short and intermediate tracks and road courses.

“The main thing is that all of the equipment we get at Hendrick Motorsports is good enough to win every weekend,” Kahne said. “We need to get on the ball here and do that, and I don’t see any better weekend to do that than the next one.”

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cms_051614_kahneKasey Kahne wrecked on Lap 4 at Pocono and could not get back out on the track, dooming him to a 43rd-place finish. Fifteenth on the Chase Grid prior to the race, 50 points above the cutoff line, Kahne is now 16th, 25 points above the cutoff line.

Although Kahne holds the 16th and final spot right now, he will get bumped if/when Kyle Busch enters the top 30 in points. As it stands now, Kahne would trail Clint Bowyer by 15 points for the final Chase spot.

If the season ended today, the following winless drivers 11th-16th on the Chase Grid would make NASCAR’s playoffs: 11. Jamie McMurray (+97) 12. Jeff Gordon (+83) 13. Paul Menard (+57) 14. Ryan Newman (+50) 15. Bowyer (+40) 16. Kahne (+25). McMurray and Menard would make the Chase for the first time in their careers.