KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger) WHEN LOOKING AT THE EARNHARDT-KYLE BUSCH INCIDENT LAST WEEK IN RICHMOND, AS A DRIVER, WOULD YOU HAVE A ‘PAY BACK’ MINDSET GOING INTO THE NEXT RACE? “I don’t know. Their situation is a little different than most of ours. It’s between them two. Everybody is different. You have different guys racing different ways throughout the year and they’ll have problems. When you do, things are different. It’s between those two (Earnhardt and Kyle Busch). I have no idea what either one of them are thinking.”

HOW DID THE CAR SHAKE OUT YESTERDAY? “It’s pretty decent. We weren’t as fast as we wanted it to be, but we got it to where it seemed like it was handling good and doing the things I was looking for. The times just weren’t quite what we were looking for, so we’ll have to work on that a little more today. I think we made some gains the last couple weeks as far as with the test in Charlotte then basically a test yesterday. It’s all been good.”

WHERE IS GILLETT EVERNHAM TODAY AS COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO? “Last year this time, we were the eighth-best team. I’d say now we are about the sixth-best team. We’ve come a little ways. I’m not sure that’s the best way to categorize it, but I think we’ve gained a little bit. We haven’t gained as much as we need to, but we definitely gained something.”

CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE RACE CAR FROM LAST YEAR? “I can definitely tell a difference; we’re still not there, but we’ve made some good progress.”

YOU HAVE THREE POLE POSITIONS HERE AT DARLINGTON; DOES THAT GIVE YOU MORE CONFIDENCE HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND? “Yeah. We’ve always qualified well here. I’d say we can qualify pretty well again here today and get a good top-five starting spot. It’s been a pretty good track for us as far as qualifying and race so. We’ve always done pretty decent.”

WHAT ARE THE KEYS FOR THE RACE TOMORROW? “Just don’t hit he wall. I think every car on the track is going to hit it (wall); it’s just how hard everyone is going to hit it. It’s a pretty tough track. It’s fast. It’s really going to be tough to pass. I think the key is mainly how hard you’re going to hit it (wall), that’s a big thing.”

WILL WE SEE SINGLE-FILE RACING A LOT TOMORROW? “Yeah. Basically it’s going to be real hard to pass. It’s so fast and there is so little room. You move around a little bit and your car is a lot tighter and your car doesn’t turn as good. There is a certain spot that you need your car to be in and if you can’t be there, you feel like you’re going to get a spot taken from you.”

HOW WEIRD IS IT NOT TO SEE ALL THE TIRE RUBBER ALL CHEWED UP ON THE TRACK? “It’s really bazaar. It’s really different than usual. I always like that part of it. I like Darlington because the tires fell off and you had to really work your car to not get into the wall. Now, the only way that you’re going to get into the wall is if you try and go too fast. It’s not because you slid the back (of the car) into it (wall), instead you went too fast and hit the wall. It’s a big difference.”