BRISTOL, Tenn. – Tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start side-by-side under the lights.
The drivers of the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS and the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS qualified 19th and 20th, respectively, Friday evening.
While both would’ve preferred to make the final round of qualifying and start further up the field, it doesn’t change the goal for either teammate.
“I want to run up in the top five and have a shot at the win,” Earnhardt said.
Kahne agreed.
“All I can do is just get what I can get,” he said. “I feel like we have a good car – we made progress (Friday) in practice. Just go as hard as you can and get every position we can possibly get to try to get the win. Just do all we can.”
Both drivers also agreed that Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the standout tracks on the schedule – one they look forward to taking on twice every year.
“Just the facility and the way that the crowd is so close and the people are so close, it feels like it brings some of the excitement up,” Kahne said. “I enjoy that. I think it’s awesome.”
Earnhardt said he appreciates the tight, confined racing of the short track. And with the high banks on the half-mile oval, Bristol is “one-of-a-kind.”
“You’re always having to work, either working on the guy in front of you or try to hold off the guy behind you,” he explained. “There’s just always racing happening.”
And when all that racing is going on under the lights on a Saturday night, it increases the intensity that much more. Earnhardt said it was always his favorite race to attend, and he doesn’t mind the Sunday off afterward.
“The night race has always been my favorite race here,” Kahne echoed. “Bristol at night is definitely one I enjoy. It’s hot, tempers get up and it’s exciting. There’s just a lot going on. To me, it’s always one of the neater races of the year, really.”