Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Kahne had been in the lead at the time of his crash, and that he was making his first start in the series. These inaccuracies have been addressed.
Kasey Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports’ driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet SS in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup, crashed out in the final lap of last weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, finishing 24th in the final rundown.
Kahne says that when the crash occurred, he had been passing the No. 15 Chevrolet of Premium Motorsports on the outside when driver Kevin O’Connell panicked and turned into him. “No clue what he was thinking,” says Kahne. The race was O’Connell’s first start in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series.
Kahne is in 21st overall in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season, just ahead of fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt managed to finish in sixth at the event, handing Chevrolet its only top-six result at the road race. He also had an incident on-track, earlier in the event.
The next race on the Monster Energy NASCAR schedule is the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, July 1st.
Comment
Kasey Kahne was not leading the race when he crashed out and it was not his first NASCAR race. It was the first NASCAR race for the driver he tangled with.