Kahne boosted by Lowe's form

In a matter of eight days, the Gillett-Evernham driver won the All-Star Challenge and then the Coca-Cola 600 at the 1.5-mile oval where he has won more Cup races than at any other track.

Kahne has praised the progress made by his team in the last few weeks and feels they are finding the path that led them to take six wins during the season two years ago, when they made the Chase for the Cup for the first time.

"It's the people that work on these cars, the engineers, the people that build them. We just have a better race car, a better package, better shocks, horsepower, I mean everything, than what I thought three weeks ago," Kahne said.

"That's basically what it is. I feel like our cars handle the things that we're doing, the way they're building the chassis, everything is better than what I thought it was."

The 28-year-old believes their turning point this season was a test at the beginning of this month a Lowe's Motor Speedway, where they were able to make big gains in the performance and balance of their car.

"We learned a lot here at the test," Kahne added. "We carried that to Darlington and had one of the best cars in practice, we should have qualified up front but I hit the wall. We ran our back up there, so we didn't run that well. But we were going to run well there, too.

"But I think the Charlotte test helped us a lot. Then the confidence, just realising that hey, these cars, these shocks, everything we're doing is actually really, really good, and we can run with Kyle Busch."

Following his strong showings at Lowe's this month, Kahne is now in the top-12 in the points when the season is about to reach it's halfway point before the Chase starts.

Kahne is confident his team has what it takes to maintain their position and get in the battle for the championship for a second time in their time together.

"We have the team to do it, that's for sure," Kahne said. "These guys work as hard as any team. They're as good and as smart as any team out there. We just need to keep working together and communicating, focusing on each track that we come to.

"I'm glad to hear I'm back in the top 12. That's the goal at the start of the year. Obviously we want to win races, but the main goal is to be in the top 12 with 10 races to go. That's what every team out here wants to do.

"We just have to keep working hard on finishing and making sure we get points every single week."