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Exclusive: Kasey Kahne confident for what lies ahead in 2017
HAMPTON, Ga. – Kasey Kahne has experienced his fair share of ups-and-downs the past two years, but the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season has a different look to it.
Kahne finished a career-high seventh in the Daytona 500 nearly one week ago.
In an exclusive interview with FOXSports.com, he reflected on what was a strong start to the year.
“We were in position to have as good of a chance to win the Daytona 500 as Kurt Busch going into the last lap,” Kahne recalled of the wild finish. “That’s the first time I've ever had an opportunity to win the Daytona 500. It felt really good. We can build from there.”
The result has given Kahne confidence heading into Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, FOX), but only on top of the confidence that was already there.
“My confidence has been building all winter since Homestead because of working with the team and trying to be a better communicator and teammate in all those areas,” Kahne said. “We got to Daytona and the guys brought as a good of a car as anyone. So that built up my confidence even more.”
Kahne will start 29th in Sunday’s race, but he likely won’t stay there for long after showing speed throughout the weekend, posting the seventh-fastest time in both practice sessions.
Although Kahne says it’s difficult to get a good read on how good the car will be during the race, overall, he’s feeling optimistic.
“It's just kind of tough to say where your car is going to be tomorrow (Sunday) and how it's going to go on a long run,” Kahne said. “We worked hard on it. The car definitely has speed in it.”
Atlanta is home to Kahne’s last Cup victory in 2014 -- 84 races ago. He has accrued a total of three wins, seven top fives and nine top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile track over the course of his career.
Atlanta is scheduled to begin their resurfacing project following Sunday’s Cup race. According to track officials, it’s expected to be completed by the end of April.
Texas Motor Speedway, Atlanta's sister track, is also going through their own repave and reconfiguration process in time for the NASCAR weekend in April.
After so much success on what is soon to be the old pavement, Kahne joins other drivers who are bummed to see the resurfacing take place.
“Texas needed it,” Kahne said. “I don't necessarily think Atlanta does. We race here once a year. It's so different than everything else we do because of the surface.”
“Why change that?” he added. “I like what we have right now. It's definitely difficult. It's great. I don't get why we'd change something that's so different and make it just like a couple others.”
Kahne is hoping to get a fourth and final victory on the aged pavement.
“Hopefully we made the right adjustments and the right decisions, I'll drive a really good really good race and get a solid result.”
