Kahne finishes 7th in Indianapolis, remains 8th in standings

Kasey Kahne turned in his fourth top-10 finish in the last five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, coming in seventh in Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Kahne remains eighth in the season point standings but padded his total to remain in the top twelve to 121 points with six races remaining. The top twelve drivers in the point standings after the first 26 races will compete in the Chase for the Sprint Cup in the final 10 events of the season.

Kahne, who kept the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge in the top ten through most of the 160-lap event, said, “At times, we were pretty quick today. We had good speed on the longer green flag runs. The tires performed well. We had no tire issues. The car was too tight to pass there at the end, so I was saving fuel and making sure the cars behind me didn’t catch me.”

A disappointing qualifying run left Kurt Busch, who is still fourth in the Sprint Cup standings, starting 40th in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. He picked up ten spots in the first nine laps and had moved inside the top 25 when a vibration forced his No. 2 Dodge in for unscheduled pit stop five laps later. A tire changed fixed the problem but left Busch a lap behind the leader and he finished 27th.

Reed Sorenson posted Dodge’s second-best finish of the day, coming in at 13th in he No. 43 Valvoline car, after an alternator problem dropped him out of the top ten. Sorenson was followed by David Stremme who finished 16th driving the No. 12 Penske Racing Charger, marking his best finish since the seventh race of the season at Texas where he was 14th.

AJ Allmendinger piloted the No. 44 Hunt Brothers Pizza Charger a 20th-place finish, making the fourth top-20 finish for Dodge. Sam Hornish Jr. was running in the top 15 through the first 60 laps but a brush with the wall on lap 69 left him finishing at 37th.

Elliott Sadler’s No. 19 Best Buy Charger was running with the new R6 Dodge engine which had issues almost from the start. Sadler’s crew took most of the afternoon to correct an oil leak and Sadler was left with a 40th-place finish.

Richard Petty, co-owner of Richard Petty Motorsports, was expecting a little more after two of the RPM cars qualified in the top 10. “Our drivers got everything they could out of the cars,” he said. “We were just off a tick.”

Driver, team, finish
Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge, 7th
Reed Sorenson, No. 43 Valvoline Dodge, 13th
David Stremme, No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge, 16th
AJ Allmendinger, No. 44 Hunt Brothers Pizza Dodge, 20th
Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 27th
Sam Hornish Jr., No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge, 37th
Elliott Sadler, No. 19 Best Buy Dodge , 40th

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings: (Top 12 after 20 of 36 races)

Driver, points (points behind)
1. Tony Stewart, 3,054 (0)
2. Jimmie Johnson, 2,862 (-192)
3. Jeff Gordon, 2,847 (-207)
4. Kurt Busch (Dodge), 2,608 (-446)
5. Carl Edwards, 2,556 (-498)
6. Denny Hamlin, 2,518 (-536)
7. Ryan Newman, 2,506 (-548)
8. Kasey Kahne (Dodge), 2,482 (-572)
9. Mark Martin, 2,471 (-583)
10. J.P. Montoya, 2,461 (-593)
11. Greg Biffle, 2,445 (-609)
12. Matt Kenseth, 2,429 (-625)