LONG POND, Pa. – Kasey Kahne’s race at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway ended three laps into Sunday’s Windows 10 400 when he lost control of his No. 5 Aquafina Chevrolet and spun onto pit road before slamming hard into the inside wall.
The penetration from the incident sent crew members pit helmets flying though the air, as Kahne’s car came to a stop against the outside wall. It appears no one on pit road was injured in the incident.
It was the third time this weekend at the 2.5-mile track where a race vehicle spun off Turn 3 and make contact with the inside pit wall. Jeb Burton lost his primary car in Saturday’s final practice session in nearly an identical incident, while Ray Black Jr., made contact with the inside pit wall during the Pocono Mountains 125 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
The impact from the crash left reminiscences of Kahne’s car implanted into the pit wall between Travis Kvapil’s stall and AJ Allmendinger’s, while structural damage to the wall forced NASCAR to red-flag the event for 14 minutes, 43 seconds for repairs.
“I just got loose,” Kahne said after walking from the infield care center. “It was a late exit, a lot later than I would have expected. That’s why I ended up so far down pit road. That was kind of crazy; I’ve never ended up down there. I just got loose and basically spun and that was it.”
Kahne explained he was spinning trying to avoid hitting the wall separating the track from pit road, but ended up hitting the inside pit wall instead.
“I saw the people and I thought to myself that those guys need to take off running and get out of the way,” Kahne added. “I didn’t know. I hadn’t done anything like that before so it was kind of crazy the way it all happened. I don’t know why were so far up and what the deal was right there.”
The past month hasn’t been kind to the Hendrick Motorsports driver. Still hoping to earn a berth into the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Kahne remains winless with the Richmond cut-off race quickly approaching.
Kahne expressed frustration of the team’s results over the last month and added Sunday’s incident didn’t help matters. After finishing 19th and 25th respectively in the last two races at New Hampshire and Indianapolis, Kahne entered Pocono 14th in the standings, but will take a massive hit and likely be clinging to the Chase bubble mark.
“Yeah, that’s really bad for points,” Kahne admitted. “It’s bad for just our team to lose a car that quickly into this race. And the last month has been really bad. And that was worse. So, I don’t know what the deal is right there and what happened. I just lost it. Late exit. Got loose. Spun.”
Quickly after surveying No. 5 Chevrolet, crew chief Keith Rodden determined the damage to be too significant, leaving Kahne with his worst finish of the season in 43rd.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
