Saturday Richmond Notebook
Notebook Items:
· Kahne has a backup plan
· Three cars at JR Motorsports next year? How about four?
Sept. 12, 2015
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
Kahne has a backup plan
RICHMOND,
Va. – For Kasey Kahne, and others who share the same scenario, Saturday
night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway
(7:30 p.m. on NBCSN) may be the most difficult last-chance qualifier
ever conceived in stock car racing.
Kahne
entered the race in a win-or-else situation, with the “or else” aspect
being absence from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this year.
It
took 11th-hour heroics last year at Atlanta for Kahne to make the
Chase, but the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet is realistic enough to know
he needs a backup plan that doesn’t include participation in NASCAR’s
10-race playoff.
Chase or not, Kahne hopes he and his team can use the final 10 races wisely.
“It’s
to try to finish strong and be more prepared when next season starts,
no matter what car we run or what team we have,” Kahne said. “We just
want to be better off than what we were this year.
“We
ran pretty good at the start of this year and then didn’t run very well
for a while, and that’s kind of why we’re 17th or 19th or wherever we
are in points (actually 17th). There’s been a bit of bad luck, which you
have each season, and then it’s just been a struggle to finish top five
or top 10. And that’s what we need to get a lot better at, if we want
to contend for wins and ultimately make it into the Chase and a
championship down the road.”
THREE CARS AT JR MOTORSPORTS NEXT YEAR? HOW ABOUT FOUR?
Dale
Earnhardt Jr. said on Friday night he wouldn’t be averse to running
four cars at JR Motorsports next year. If the organization can raise
sufficient capital to do so.
Earnhardt’s
remarks followed a strong showing from JRM in the Virginia529 College
Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway, where Chase Elliott broke
a 39-race drought with his first victory of the season.
Joining
Elliott in the top 10 were JRM drivers Regan Smith, who ran sixth, and
Josh Berry, who finished seventh after running as high as second in his
only NASCAR XFINITY start of the season so far.
Elliott
is stepping into the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to be
vacated by Jeff Gordon at the end of the year, leaving the 2016 JRM
driver lineup currently unsettled. But Earnhardt hopes to re-sign Smith,
pending sufficient funding, and continue to field the “all-star car”
that has featured multiple drivers this year, including Earnhardt
himself and reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.
Another full-time car for a driver not yet announced also is in the offing.
Earnhardt
hopes Berry’s performance on Friday night might attract the interest of
potential partners for the late model stock car star.
“We
plan to run three cars next year, and if the right opportunity came
along, we’d run four,” Earnhardt said. “We feel like we’re a healthy
company, and if we have the funding to do it, we know how to do it in a
budget, and we’d be excited to race Josh if we could get that
opportunity.”
Earnhardt
said the 24-year-old Tennessee driver did everything the team asked him
to do and proved he could run at a high level in the right equipment.
“Hopefully,
tonight he’s turned some heads, and maybe the phone will start ringing
next week with some people that are interested in getting behind his
career and helping him realize his potential,” Earnhardt said. “He’s
like a lot of these guys that are just one sponsorship away from being
able to make a living as a race car driver in the XFINITY Series and
moving on to the (Sprint) Cup Series eventually one day.
“He’s
got the talent and the ability, and I’m telling you, he’s just one
domino away. And if that domino falls, and we can pair him up and get
the funding, then I think it’s something that will work, and he would be
able to make it work.”
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