Changes don’t bother Kahne

LAS VEGAS — Kasey Kahne wasn’t ready to relinquish the track record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway simply because they changed the track.

Kahne won the pole position Friday for Sunday’s Nextel Cup race as he and most of the field obliterated his previous track record, as expected, thanks to the revamped Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The track was repaved in the off-season and its corner banking was raised to 20 degrees from 12, lifting speeds for this year’s UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

Kahne set a lap record of 184.856 mph in his No. 9 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports, nearly 10 mph faster than his old mark, 174.904 set in 2004.

“I’m happy to not give the track record up here just yet,” Kahne said. “I felt like we had a good car when practice was over.”

David Stremme qualified second at 184.193 mph and will start next to Kahne on the front row.

Elliott Sadler, Kahne’s teammate, was third, and Juan Pablo Montoya, Stremme’s teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, was fourth.

All drive Dodges and, in fact, Chargers took seven of the top 10 starting spots.

Montoya, a former Formula One driver who won the Busch Series race in Mexico City last Sunday for his first NASCAR win, said that victory had been “a big boost” to his Cup effort.

“Things are getting better,” he said. “I need to relax a little more. I think I pushed the issue a little bit in practice today, and you can’t push this car.”

Indeed, the different track -- together with a harder tire that Goodyear brought to Las Vegas to keep a lid on speeds -- proved troublesome for several drivers who spun out and hit the wall during the two-lap qualifying.

They included David Gilliland of Riverside, who will have to drive a backup of his No. 38 Robert Yates Racing Ford in Sunday’s race. He qualified 21st.

Neither of the two Toyota drivers for the new Red Bull team, Brian Vickers and Californian A.J. Allmendinger, ran fast enough to qualify.

Allmendinger, who left the Champ Car open-wheel racing series last year to join NASCAR, has failed to qualify in all three Cup races so far this year.

Jimmie Johnson, who won the race the last two years on the old track, qualified 23rd in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 28th in another Chevy.

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Sunday’s race is a sellout, with more than 150,000 expected, and many observers believe it’s one reason the 92,000-seat California Speedway in Fontana failed to sell out the first of its two annual races last month.

Bruton Smith, the colorful chief executive of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns the Las Vegas track, reiterated Friday that he would like to have a second Cup race here too. The California Speedway is owned by a separate company, NASCAR’s International Speedway Corp.

When a reporter asked whether Smith would like to take one of the races at the California Speedway, whose president is Gillian Zucker, Smith quipped, “If she’s got to move one of the events here, that’s a fabulous idea.”

Moments later, Zucker walked in and introduced herself to Smith. Smith gave her a hug and the following ensued -- with tongues in cheek:

Smith: “Are you negotiating with me? Maybe you want to sell [the race]?”

Zucker: I don’t want to sell it. I don’t own it.”

Smith: “Would you talk to the owners?”

Zucker: “I think the owners are pretty pleased with it.”

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