Michigan II: RPM Race Report

KASEY KAHNE -- No. 9 BUDWEISER DODGE CHARGER
* Kahne qualified 10th and finished 11th.
* Kahne had to start at the back of the field after an engine change on Friday.
* Kahne remained 8th in the championship point standings.
* Kahne was 18th with just 16 laps remaining.

KAHNE : "Overall, bringing home an 11th in our Budweiser Dodge was a great effort by everyone on this team. It was a great finish considering where we ran all day. We got the best finish that we could. The pit crew did a great job. Considering we started 43rd, we had a lot of cars that we had to pass on a very slick race track and we were able to pass a lot of cars. Kenny (Francis, crew chief) did a great job on top of the box making adjustments to try and get our Budweiser Dodge to handle better. We'll take the points and be happy to head to Bristol next weekend."

KENNY FRANCIS (Crew Chief, No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)
"Our Budweiser Dodge had a decent day. It was a struggle. We ended up 11th there at the end which was kind of holding serve with the points. Obviously, we want to run better than that, but we had a little bit of adversity today by starting 43rd, but hung in there and work hard all day. I'm real proud of Kasey and the pit crew. Everybody hung in there for the full 200 laps of slipping and sliding here at Michigan."

AJ ALLMENDINGER -- No. 44 SUPER 8 DODGE CHARGER
* Allmendinger started 13th and finished 22nd.
* Allmendinger struggled with grip throughout the race.
* Struggled on short runs but excelled on long runs.
* Made up three spots in the final three laps.
* Allmendinger scraped wall in Saturday practice.

ALLMENDINGER: "I'm proud of the guys. We kept fighting. Our biggest problem, we were terrible on short runs. We'd go green and I'd fall to the back and then after about 25 laps on the tires, I could run high and make up some spots. I put us behind the eight-ball yesterday, wrecking the car. That one is on me. We'll take it and head to Bristol."

ELLIOTT SADLER -- No. 19 STANLEY DODGE CHARGER
* Sadler started 34th and finished 25th.
* Went down a lap to the leaders at the 100-lap mark.
* Took waive-around on lap 117 then a caution on lap 120 allowed him to stay on lead lap the remainder of the race.
* Battled a loose car throughout the race.

SADLER : "We were loose all day long. We tried to fix it. Unfortunately, I think something broke in the Stanley Dodge. It wouldn't stay tight at all, the back end kept kicking out. We weren't able to do much with it. Unfortunately, it wasn't the day we were looking for, but we head to Bristol next week looking for a great run there."

REED SORENSON -- No. 43 AUTO VALUE BUMPER TO BUMPER DODGE CHARGER
* Sorenson qualified 40th and finished 29th.
* Suffered power steering problems that the crew spent considerable time on pit road correcting.
* Lost a lap to the leaders at halfway mark.
* Regained the lost lap at lap 139.

SORENSON: "It wasn't too good today. We were better at the end of the race which is bad because that tells you how off we were earlier in the race. I thought that we had a decent car yesterday in happy hour. It just wasn't good today."


Credit: Richard Petty Motorsports PR