What We Learned: Richmond

CONCORD, N.C. — Sunday’s race at Richmond International Raceway was highlighted by two top-five finishes for Hendrick Motorsports, and there was plenty to take away from another thrilling event.

KAHNE ‘BUILDING’ ON TOP-FIVE

Early in Sunday’s race at Richmond, Kasey Kahne was concerned.

Riding high on the track, his No. 5 Mountain Dew Pitch Black Chevrolet SS made contact with the wall.

“I just missed a little bit and slid, hit the wall,” he explained. “I thought I had wrecked my car pretty good, but it rubbed it. It was still really sharp the next corner and the corner after that. I knew we were OK at that point.”

From there, he pushed toward the top five, finding it on Lap 79, and stayed at or near it for the remainder of the race.

A week after finding the top five with less than 50 laps remaining at Bristol but ultimately finishing 17th, Kahne was proud to have “finished it off” Sunday.

“We just stayed after it all day,” he said. “We had a little bit of struggles early in the run, the first 10 laps, then at the end of the race we didn’t have that struggle at all. I thought that was the best we’ve taken off all day on a 40-lap kind of dash there at the end. We needed that.”

He credited the success to the No. 5 team, from crew chief Keith Rodden’s in-race tuning to the pit crew’s speedy stops throughout the event.

“We had a strong car,” he said. “The adjustments were great. The pit stops on pit road, I was either even or gaining spots all race long. My pit team is unreal right now, for sure.”

The fourth-place finish was his best of the season, and it came two weeks after a top-10 at Texas and a week after a strong run at Bristol, even if the result didn’t show it.

“It’s nice to have three solid weekends,” he said, “and we’ll keep building from here.”