INSIDE LOOK: KAHNE CAN'T BREAK POLE-SITTER JINX.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

FONTANA - Winning the pole at California Speedway must be a pox.

Rookie Kasey Kahne became the eighth consecutive NASCAR Nextel Cup pole-sitter to fail to win the race. The rookie had one of the more dominant cars in the Automobile Club of Southern California 500 at the 2-mile oval here. But when it came time to go for the victory, Kahne found the car was lacking. And to add insult, he ran out of gas on the final lap to finish 13th.

``We were put in a great position, but in the end, it just was not there,'' Kahne said.

Kahne and eventual-winner Jeff Gordon drove 1-2 for more than 60 laps of the 250-lap race. Kahne led 77 laps and was poised to make a run against Gordon over the final 100 miles. When he pitted for the final time with 53 laps to go, he complained to crew chief Tommy Baldwin that the car was too tight.

In addition to its final fuel load and four tires, the team made an air adjustment to the tires. But when he came out, Kahne said the car tightened up even more.

``I don't know why it did,'' he said of the problem.

``It was just tight a little bit. We were getting tighter and tighter and on that final adjustment, we went to free the car up. But then it began to tighten even more. That impacted our fuel mileage. That's why we ran out of gas.''

As he coasted to the finish line, nine cars passed.

``We just got too tight on that long run and when we pitted, I do not think we pulled the fuel all the way in,'' Baldwin said.

The closest a California Speedway Cup pole-sitter has come to winning was Jeff Burton in 1999, when he finished second to Gordon, who has won three times at Fontana.

Kahne also has come close to winning in his rookie season, finishing second at Rockingham (N.C.), Las Vegas and Texas Motor Speedway. He was also third in Atlanta. His second-place finish at Rockingham was 0.01 seconds behind winner Matt Kenseth.

``Once we win the first race, it will make it a lot easier the second time,'' he said. ``We've put ourselves in a position in a lot of races and have come up short. We would have run fourth today, and that's pretty decent, but it did not work out that way.''

Of the first 49 laps, Kahne led all but six. Gordon moved up from his 16th position to challenge the former USAC Midget champion.

They traded the lead for the next 150 laps.

``At the end of the race, I was thinking about Kasey,'' Gordon said. ``I had been chasing him, chasing him, chasing him. I'd pull up along side of him and he would go down low and pull away again.''

Kahne said he enjoyed the challenge.

``We just battled all day,'' he said. ``It was fun.''

Keith Lair, [phone]

keith.lair(at)sgvn.com

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Pole-sitter Kasey Kahne battled winner Jeff Gordon most of the day but came up short when it counted and ran out of gas.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press