NASCAR Cup

Kasey Kahne pole press conference

Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 38 Great Clips Taurus, captured the first pole of his NASCAR Busch Series career this afternoon at Michigan International Speedway. Kahne spoke about the accomplishment during a press conference shortly ...

Published: Aug 17, 2003, 2:18 PM

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Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 38 Great Clips Taurus, captured the first pole of his NASCAR Busch Series career this afternoon at Michigan International Speedway. Kahne spoke about the accomplishment during a press conference shortly afterwards.

KASEY KAHNE - No. 38 Great Clips Taurus

POLE-WINNING INTERVIEW - THIS IS YOUR FIRST POLE AFTER 42 BUSCH STARTS. HOW DOES IT FEEL?

"It feels good. We've come close a lot this year, and I think the team has done an awesome job in qualifying trim most of the year. We've got bumped off a few different times and we've been in the top 10 a lot, too, so to finally get on the pole - it was close. There were a couple cars there at the end that just about got us, but it feels really good to get a pole."

WHAT ABOUT GETTING THE POLE WITH ALL THOSE WINSTON CUP DRIVERS IN THE FIELD?

"Yeah, that's even more surprising for me. I thought that maybe my first pole would be somewhere else, but there are a lot of good drivers here this weekend - Cup drivers and all the Busch guys - so to sit on the pole and be in front of the field tomorrow when it goes green is a pretty big accomplishment."

DOES SITTING ON THE POLE CHANGE YOUR RACE STRATEGY?

"It doesn't change mine much. I don't know about the team. It think it will probably be about the same as we usually have it, but we've just got to work on the car. We weren't anywhere near a first-place car in practice this morning until we changed to qualifying setup, so, hopefully, we'll get that better this afternoon. Hopefully, we'll get and hour practice and it won't rain."

HOW DO YOU LIKE HAVING ALL THOSE CUP GUYS IN THE FIELD?

"I don't really have any feelings about it. Those guys are the best and you can learn things from them. You can race with them. It's good when you can race up front with them because it makes your team that much better. I do think they take away a little bit of our chances of winning and our team's chance of making the money to get back to the next race, so that's a little bit of the downside, but you learn a lot from them."

YOU'LL RUN THE RACE SATURDAY AND THEN GO TO KNOXVILLE, IOWA FOR A SPRINT CAR RACE. ANY TROUBLE SLEEPING TONIGHT?

"No, it'll be pretty easy tonight. I was with Tony Stewart last night and we didn't get back here from Knoxville until about 3:50 this morning and then got back up at 7:30, but I'll be able to sleep real good tonight. I'm not even gonna think about anything but sleep."

SO THE SPRINT CAR RACE IS SATURDAY NIGHT?

"Yeah, it's tomorrow night. I think it's live on SPEED channel tomorrow night, too. I've been racing the sprint car the last week pretty thoroughly. We won one race and have been running up front in all of them. We didn't have a good qualifying night at Knoxville, but we'll start in the middle of the "B" Main. We have an awesome race car and should be able to get into the "A" and, hopefully, pass a lot of cars there."

YOU'VE BEEN SO SUCCESSFUL IN SPRINT CARS. HAS THE TRANSITION TO STOCK CARS BEEN SLOWER THAN YOU WOULD HAVE LIKED? HAS IT BEEN FRUSTRATING?

"I think it's been slower than I would have liked for sure. It's been frustrating at times, especially last year at times. I've raced those cars (sprint cars) so much and raced so much dirt and pavement in those that these cars are just a lot different. The team I'm with now and with Great Clips as the sponsor has really been the big reason as to why we're better this year than we were last. I just have to keep learning these cars and learning what they need and want during a full race."

TONY STEWART STRUGGLED IN BUSCH AS WELL, BUT HAS DONE BLOSSOMED IN WINSTON CUP. DO YOU THINK THAT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU?

"I'd like to think that, but I don't know how that is because I've never gotten to drive one (a Cup car). Tony Stewart does awesome in the Winston Cup cars. I don't know. Hopefully, I'll get to drive one next year or something like that - maybe get to run a couple of races -- but I think we'll be able to learn the Busch Series. I think we'll be able to win some races. I don't know when, but hopefully soon."

-ford racing-

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