Kasey Kahne says he is still a little sore following his last-lap wreck in Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway caused by AJ Allmendinger, but Richard Petty Motorsports may have bigger team issues with their drivers.
Allmendinger, Kahne’s Richard Petty Motorsports teammate, blocked the driver all the way to the grass as Kahne was attempting to make a pass late in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 at Pocono. Kahne then slid into the grass and up across the track, sparking an eight-car crash on the final lap of the race.
After the incident, Kahne said that he doesn’t normally make it a habit to talk with Allmendinger. It doesn’t appear that he’s going to try and change after this.
“No, we really hadn’t (talked this week),” Kahne said during a fan chat on FOXSports.com to promote Wednesday night's Prelude to the Dream. “I’m kind of just taking it and go on to the next race and figure out how to not get in that position again, how I could do a better job of not letting somebody else put me in that position. So trying to help myself in the future and that would have helped a lot of cars there and you’ve just got to look out for yourself sometimes.
"I screwed up there and didn’t look out for myself enough.”
FOX analyst Larry McReynolds said that he doesn't believe that Allmendinger intentionally caused Kahne to crash, though he does say that Allmendinger most likely regrets the move at this point.
"I truly believe – and I could be wrong – that Allmendinger didn’t look in his rear-view mirror and say, 'There’s my teammate Kasey Kahne, I’m going to run him all the way down into the grass.' I don’t believe that," McReynolds said.
"Did he try to block the car coming? Absolutely. Did he use up every bit of the track? Absolutely. Does he regret what happened? Absolutely. I just believe that AJ Allmendinger – who was having one of his best runs of the year – saw a car getting a run on him and he decided to block him. You just got two guys that both need good finishes and there was a mistake made. The worst part about it is how many innocent victims got their cars torn up."
Fellow RPM driver Elliott Sadler and Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle were also caught up in the crash, which took out several drivers on track to have solid outings. Roush Fenway has an alliance with RPM. Michael Waltrip Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., Hendrick Motorsports’ Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, JTG Daugherty’s Marcos Ambrose and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Newman were also involved.
During the chat, Kahne also didn't hide the fact that things were not perfect at RPM even before the crash.
“(I’m looking forward to) working with teammates that want to work together," he said of his switch to Hendrick next season. "I’ve never had that. I think it’ll be great to have that with all the teammates, not just say one or two like we have at Petty Motorsports.”
