Benny Parsons says: Kahne could master Dover mile
When I think of a favorite for Sunday’s Nextel Cup race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, I think of Kasey Kahne.
At Dover there is a high groove to run, and Kahne has never met a high groove he doesn’t like so he’s my favorite in the second race of the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.
Working in Kahne’s favor
Besides having a chance to race and win in the high groove, Kahne — who is eighth in the Chase standings — will be motivated by the fact that to win a Cup championship he needs to get going and produce better finishes than his 16th-place result last week in New Hampshire.
He’ll need to do better at Dover than his brief history at this track suggests he will. In five Cup starts at this one-mile oval, the Ray Evernham racer has three DNF’s, and only one top-10 finish — that being his seventh-place result in June.
Delivering under pressure and when it counts the most is nothing new to Kahne this season. To qualify for the Chase he made up a 90-point deficit in the two races before the cutoff for getting into the 10-race playoff.
He did that with a win at California, and a third-place finish at Richmond. And I just think that the stars are aligned for Kahne to run well at Dover — even though one-mile tracks are not his specialty.