CONCORD, N.C. — Kasey Kahne pulled away to victory in the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night, winning NASCAR’s longest race for the third time and gaining his stripes for Hendrick Motorsports by taking the checkered flag.
Kahne wondered earlier this year when that might happen.
The self-imposed pressure grew this week before the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway at a party Hendrick threw to celebrate the owner’s 200th career victory Jimmie Johnson earned at Darlington Raceway two weeks ago.
Kahne was introduced as part of the current team - after the 15 drivers who won races for Hendrick took a bow. Kahne said the gathering showed him what Hendrick has meant to the sport - and how much he wanted to add to that.
“It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” Kahne said.
And it was a popular triumph. Teammate Jeff Gordon rushed up to hug Kahne and told him, “Proud of you.”
Hendrick saw that Kahne and crew chief Kenny Francis were frustrated by their early struggles when their best finish was a 14th in California.
Things began to click soon after, and Kahne entered the week with five consecutive top-10 finishes.
What a roll for Hendrick Motorsports. The program was stuck on 199 victories since October. Then came Johnson’s milestone victory at Darlington. The five-time champion followed that with a victory in the All-Star race at Charlotte last week.
Kahne led four Hendrick cars in the top 11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sixth and Gordon was seventh - only his third top 10 finish of the year. Johnson came in 11th. He was vying for more, but fell from contention with a mistake on the final pit stop as he left the stall with his gas can still engaged, dragging his crew member behind.
Johnson was docked with a stop-and-go penalty that ended his chances at winning a third consecutive week.
Kahne crossed the finish line nearly five seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin. Kyle Busch was third and series points leader Greg Biffle fourth. It was Kahne’s 13th career victory and first since last November in Phoenix.
Kahne led 96 laps, including the final 42. And he said he can keep winning.
“I just know that the cars and the people we have that Mr. Hendrick gives us is everything that we need to win,” Kahne said.
Victory lane (Start position in parentheses) 1. (7) Kasey Kahne Chevy 2. (8) Denny Hamlin Toyota 3. (17) Kyle Busch Toyota 4. (4) Greg Biffle Ford 5. (24) B. Keselowski Dodge ARKANSAN 34. (6) Mark Martin Toyota - Complete results, Page 6C
Top 12 in points
Biffle ..........453
Kenseth .....443
Hamlin .......437
Earnhardt. .435
Johnson ....405
Truex Jr. ....404
Harvick ......398
Ky. Busch ..391
Stewart ......388
Edwards ..372
Keselowski 368
Bowyer ....366
RACE STATISTICS
AVERAGE SPEED OF WINNER 155.687
TIME OF RACE 3 hours, 51 minutes 14 sec.
VICTORY MARGIN 4.295 seconds.
CAUTION FLAGS 5 for 23 laps.
LEAD CHANGES 31 (11 drivers).
Sports, Pages 17 on 05/28/2012