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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Kahne Digs Big Chase Hole
Engine failure ended Kasey Kahne’s day after 66 laps...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted September 20, 2009   Loudon, NH
Crew members for the #9 Budweiser Dodge driven by Kasey Kahne work in the garage area during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Kasey Kahne was the unluckiest of the 12 drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup on Sunday, as an early engine failure knocked him out of the Sylvania 300 after just 66 of 312 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He finished 38th, worst of the 12 competitors in the championship hunt.

And as a result, Kahne is now 12th in points, 161 behind race-winner and points leader Mark Martin. Coincidentally, the most points a driver can make up on another in the same race is 161.

The blown engine no doubt will plunge Richard Petty Motorsports even further into controversy. RPM is merging with Yates Racing and in 2010 will switch from Dodge to Ford and run powerplants from Roush Yates Engines. As part of the process, RPM will close its own engine operation after this season, cutting an estimated 40-60 jobs.

RPM, which campaigns four cars now, had not had a single mechanical failure in any of its cars in the first 26 races of the season. And this one came as an unwelcome surprise to Kahne.

“We lost an engine, I don’t know why,” Kahne said. “I felt it start to run a little bit rough down the backstretch and it broke on the frontstretch. I thought that it was coming, the gauges all looked good, but I knew that it was coming.”

Earlier this weekend, ESPN.com reported that RPM had told driver Reed Sorenson that he’d have to race for free for the remainder of the season, even though his car had sponsorship. And on Friday, Kahne had criticized the RPM management as being leaderless.

Sunday’s problems won’t help the situation at the team. And while it’s far too early to say whether the mechanical failure will cost Kahne a shot at the championship, it certainly buried him deep in the points.

“It’s disappointing,” Kahne admitted afterwards. “It’s better than (if it happened) last week because we wouldn’t have been in the Chase. We just have to work extra hard now. I don’t know how this all works. You never know in the Chase if you can have a mulligan or not. This team is doing a nice job. We’ll be 12th when we leave here. Hopefully, we can make gains in those final nine (races).”

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief 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 past 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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