Kasey Kahne hopes to take the same car he won from the pole in Atlanta to Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.
He’s halfway there, winning the pole with a speed of 191.315 on the 1.5 mile oval.
“We brought the same car we had at Atlanta. It was brand new at Atlanta, and we brought it here and qualified first,” Kahne said.
Kahne, in his third year of NEXTEL Cup racing, has seen increased success in 2006. He said some of it has to do with the new structuring the Evernham teams have undergone in 2006.
Evernham’s teams have replaced the role of the crew chief with three people: a team director, call director and an engineer. The concept is to have more people bring ideas to the table for the racing organizations.
“I think it’s a great structure the way Ray [Evernham] did it this year. Obviously the way we’re doing it is different than other teams,” Kahne said.
Second place qualifier J.J. Yeley almost didn’t make qualifying because of problems getting the car through technical inspection. Yeley’s car had problems with the rear cambers on the rear end of his No. 18 Chevy. The car eventually passed inspection, the issue revolved around confusion the team had with how the measurement would be taken.
Despite the setbacks, Yeley said he didn’t get too worried.
“I didn’t really concern myself with anything other than where my car was. Luckily we got through and I didn’t give it much thought,” Yeley said.
Mark Martin, who qualified third on Firday, said he’s reached the point where he can’t add anymore commitments to his already packed schedule.
“I have reached the point where that’s took much, but the additional truck races was an important tool for me.”
Martin said Ford and his sponsors were impressed with his early success in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he has already won two races and is leading in the points.
Martin plans to retire from Cup racing at the end of the 2006 season, but will run a full time truck season in 2007. In addition to running the full time cup season and selected Busch Series races, Martin is running most of the truck season, but not all of it.
“I put my foot down on a tripleheader weekend-its way to much,” Martin said.
The Samsung/RadioShack 500 is Sunday at 1 p.m. at TMS.
