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Kings of the track
Fans meet and greet NASCAR drivers Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and Dave Blaney
By JOHN BASSETTI
HARTFORD
If the order in which Dave Blaney, Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart arrived at Sharon Speedway Wednesday night reflected their current standings in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, Blaney would be highest-ranking, followed by Kahne, then Stewart.
But, in reality, the inverse is true.
Halfway through the Sprint Cup season, it’s Stewart (ninth), Kahne (16th) and Blaney (41st). The three made an appearance to compete in the Lou Blaney Memorial Sprint car event prior to traveling to Chicagoland Speedway this weekend.
For fans, some of whom waited in line for two-plus hours in oppressive heat, Stewart’s late arrival didn’t matter.
One woman — after hearing that Stewart was holding up the autograph session for all three — muttered, “Well the heck with Tony Stewart.”
It wasn’t 30 seconds later when Blaney, Kahne and Stewart walked into view of the sweaty and uncomfortable crowd late Wednesday afternoon. The woman promptly ran to stand within feet of her heroes as they approached the autograph tent.
All was forgiven.
Stewart, when asked about reported changes in the Chase format for 2011, replied: “I’m not worried about that tonight. I’m worried about Sprints tonight.”
Tony, any comment about your season after 18 of 36 races?
“Not unless it’s about Sprint cars or Sharon Speedway or what we’re here for.”
Tony, do you favor Chase expansion to 15 cars or an elimination-type format?
“You don’t hear very well, do you.”
Stewart’s sharp retorts drew snickering from Blaney and Kahne, while the reporter withdrew, period.
“It’s a chance to get away from our real jobs for a bit and have some fun,” Stewart responded to another reporter who had the good sense to ask a made-for-Tony Stewart-question.
The 29-year-old Kahne reflected on his runner-up finish in the Coke Zero 400 last Saturday.
“You feel good. You feel like you did a good job and the team did a nice job. We’ve been running pretty well for the last month. That’s all you can ask for. I’ve been pretty happy with our Budweiser Fords.”
The second place helped Kahne jump in points.
“We’ve been better each week. We’ve had some things go on and haven’t made nearly the points we should have this time of year. But we still have plenty of time to either make — or we don’t make — the Chase or to win some races. I think we have a good enough team to do that.”
Kahne has had Budweiser as a main sponsor for three seasons.
“We’ve had great sponsors and Budweiser has been one of those. We just hope to keep doing the things to make them happy and keep them on the car. We want anybody who’s part of our team to be part of our cars and to be happy with what we’re doing in racing.”
About possible tweaking of the Chase, Kahne said: “Whatever they [NASCAR] want to do, it’s their deal. I’ve heard some talk of them changing it up for a little more excitement. That’s what NASCAR is. It needs the fans to want to watch and support it. Sometimes you have to change it to get that. I think that whatever they do will be good for the fans and for racing. I’m behind it.”
Despite a decline in NASCAR attendance, Kahne considers it a casualty of the economy.
“NASCAR teams are as tough as they’ve ever been right now — way tougher than when I came into it in 2004. It’s just a matter of the economy and where’s it at right now. I think as time goes on, it’ll come back. Everything kind of fluctuates some. So, I think NASCAR’s fine.”
Blaney’s Prism Motorsports team still struggles without sponsorship money, but the Hartford native continues to defy the odds.
“They try to find a little money here and there which is very hard at this point in time. So, we’ll just keep doing that,” he said.
It’s difficult to stay upbeat.
“We’ll try to qualify as good as we can every Friday,” he said.
“That’s our our high spot for the weekend. Obviously, we’ve got to make the race first, then, if we’d qualify near the front, that’s a bonus.”