Kasey Kahne praises tire management in Food City 500 at Bristol

While he is racing full-time in sprint cars now, Kasey Kahne spent time watching NASCAR today and he liked what he saw. Kahne, one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers enjoyed the product he saw on TV.

When you have legends like Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. praising a short track race in the Next Gen car, you know something special has happened. The best races of the Next Gen era have all been superspeedways or intermediate tracks.

Early on in the Food City 500, it became apparent this race was going to be different. The tire wear was something we haven’t seen in years, maybe more than a decade. That created the conditions for a really good Cup Series race.

“It was fun watching a NASCAR race unfold like that,” Kahne wrote on Twitter/X. “Much different than usual. I enjoyed trying to think how all the drivers were managing their race. Pretty cool.”

It was fun watching a @nascar race unfold like that. Much different than usual. I enjoyed trying to think how all the drivers were managing their race. Pretty cool

— Kasey Kahne (@kaseykahne) March 17, 2024

NASCAR opted for the resin instead of PJ1 on the bottom groove. There were a lot of overcast conditions and cool weather overall. Those factors and more created a tire management race that ended up working out in the end. People were raving about this race during and after the checkered flag.

Kasey Kahne is happy with it. Dale Jr. loved what he saw. Even drivers in the race admitted they had fun, or it was at least an interesting race, if anything. For winner Denny Hamlin, this was a great race. He related it to his late model days racing short tracks in Virginia years ago. Today was fun, plain and simple!

Kasey Kahne joins chorus of cheers for Food City 500

There aren’t many times in NASCAR when an accident works out for the best. Compare this to Indianapolis 2008 if you want. That’s not what happened here. Teams, especially when they got the extra set of tires, were able to make it to the end of the race.

Today’s race looked hard as hell. It looked miserable to wheel these cars and keep them going straight 30 laps into a run. There are times when Cup Series racing looks easy, like a jog. Today we saw drivers struggle.

It was no mistake that the top finishers in this race were all skilled in short track racing. Talent showed through today. You aren’t going to look at the top-5 drivers, who were the only ones to finish on the lead lap, and not see a great grassroots background behind them.

Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Larson all know what it means to save tires and manage equipment. Pit stops mattered. Stretching tires mattered and keeping a clean car was major. This race broke the record for most lead changes on a short track in NASCAR history. Kasey Kahne was entertained, were you?