Kasey Kahne speaks during a press conference after failing to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup following the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway. (Jerry Markland/Getty Images Photo)

OH SO CLOSE When Kasey Kahne won the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race in May and two of the next three Sprint Cup points races after that, he seemed like a dead-nuts-on lock to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Alas, ‘twas not to be for the Enumclaw, Wash., driver, who finished 19th in Sunday’s Chevy Rock ‘N’ Roll 400. That left him 13th in the points, the first driver to miss the Chase.

“I felt like I drove everything I could all day,” said Kahne, who suffered through disastrous consecutive 40th-place finishes last month at Michigan and Bristol. “Tried to take chances. Tried to be smart at the same time and get what we could get. Four tires out of the track, push getting in, slide the back getting off, and then you'd slide in and slide off and it was kind of all over but we got the car better.”

Kahne had a miserable day in the pits, stuck between two Roush Fenway Racing Fords. “Track position hurt us all day,” Kahne said. “I was trapped in between a couple Roush cars on pit road and it didn't matter where I came in, I was trapped. So it was a long day in the pits. We came out close to last about every single time it seemed like.”

With Kahne coming up short, Dodge will not have a single car in the Chase, the first time that’s happened since the format was adopted in 2004.

SLICED BREAD UPDATE J.D. Gibbs said Sunday that Joey Logano will race next week in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. As-yet undecided is whether the 18-year-old phenom will be driving the No. 02 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota he was scheduled to drive this weekend at Richmond International Raceway, or whether he’ll stick with the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing ride he’s supposed to be in.

If he does drive for HoF, the No. 96 will carry Home Depot sponsorship, Gibbs said, although he acknowledged he has not talked to Hall of Fame officials about what the final plan will be. “We’ve still got to work out some more details,” Gibbs said Sunday morning at Richmond International Raceway. “Right now, we want the first race to be in the Home Depot car and we’ve got a few options to figure out, but next week, he will be in the car racing.”

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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