38th last year, Kahne is confident this week

Thursday, March 9, 2006 | 7:21 a.m.

His 38th-place finish here a year ago notwithstanding, Kasey Kahne is not lacking confidence going into Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Kahne, who is fourth in NASCAR Nextel Cup Series points after two races, pointed to his second-place finish at the speedway in 2004 and his preseason test here as two of the reasons for his optimism.

"I feel like we had a great race car at the test," Kahne said of the two-day session at the speedway. "We have to keep making the right adjustments and I have to give the right information to (team director) Kenny Francis. If we do that, we have as good a shot to win out there as anybody."

Kahne also is encouraged by his strong start in the 2006 season, which includes an 11th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and a fourth-place showing the weekend before last at California Speedway.

"I feel like my team has done a great job preparing for the season and we've had some good races," Kahne said. "It's very early in the season but it's definitely our best start yet."

After winning the pole and finishing second here as a rookie in 2004, Kahne was considered one of the favorites to win last year's Cup race at the speedway until he spun and backed into the wall 100 laps into the race. Still, Kahne said he enjoys racing on the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

"I think the track itself and the groove and the passing is really good there," Kahne said.

'Slow' week

Mark Martin, in his final full season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, may not know what to do with all of his spare time this weekend.

Martin, who will compete in at least 56 races this season between Nextel Cup, Busch, Craftsman Trucks and IROC, will only race in Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Nextel Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Martin, who won the inaugural Cup race at the speedway in 1998 and has two Busch Series victories in Las Vegas, drove in the Cup, Busch and Truck Series races at Daytona and the Cup and Truck Series races two weeks ago at California Speedway.

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