CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Kasey Kahne was starting to feel a little guilty.
Sure, he’d finished in the top 10 in five of the last six Sprint Cup races, but he still hadn’t picked up
that elusive first victory for car owner Rick Hendrick.
“Our team is solid. Our car is solid. Mr. Hendrick gives us everything we need to win races and run up
front,” Kahne said. “I just knew for myself I needed to step up.”
And he did just that.
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 the only way that matters — taking the
checkered flag.
“I never really doubted myself,” Kahne said. “I was upset at some of the things that may have happened. I
made a huge mistake at Phoenix, hit the wall there. But other than that, we were solid, we were fast. It
was just a matter of getting past those five weeks and moving on and putting some solid races together.”

The self-imposed pressure grew this week before Charlotte Motor Speedway at a party Hendrick threw to
celebrate the owner’s 200th career win Jimmie Johnson earned at Darlington Raceway two weeks back. Kahne
was introduced as part of the current team — after the 15 drivers who won races for Hendrick took a bow.

Hendrick then challenged him to win the Coca-Cola 600.
Despite the challenge, Hendrick could tell the losing streak was wearing on Kahne and tried to assure him
that better times were ahead.
“Well, I could see that it was bothering him,” Hendrick said. “A racer doesn’t like to wreck a car or
have bad luck. You could see it with Kenny, too. They hated to have those problems. When you can see,
again, they had speed. I tried to reassure them, ‘Look, we’re in this for the long haul. You guys are
running good. You just have to have some breaks.”’
And it was a popular victory.
Teammate Jeff Gordon rushed up to hug Kahne after the race and told him, “Proud of you.”
What a roll for Hendrick Motorsports. The program was stuck on 199 victories since October. Then came
Johnson’s milestone win 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 right behind in
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 straight week.

“I think we’re showing the consistency from all of our teams,” Hendrick said. “I can’t wait for the
second half of the season.”
Kahne crossed the finish line nearly 5 seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin. Kyle Busch was third and series
points leader Greg Biffle fourth.
It was Kahne’s 13th career win and first since last November in Phoenix.
Kahne’s a racing gym rat who can’t stay away from competition. He drives in NASCAR Truck races when the
Sprint Cup series is off — as he did at Darlington in 2011 and Rockingham this spring — and raced this
weekend in the World of Outlaws dirt track contest across the street from Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Kahne led 96 laps, including the final 42. He doesn’t see why the winning can’t continue.
“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.
Danica Patrick, the first woman to drive in the race since Janet Guthrie in 1976, was five laps down in
30th — her best finish in three career Sprint Cup races.
Car owner Chip Ganassi flew to Charlotte after celebrating Dario Franchitti’s win at the Indianapolis 500
earlier Sunday. Ganassi, part of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, had hoped to double up with drivers Jamie
McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya. But 250 laps in, McMurray was a lap down and Montoya two behind after
needing an extra pit stop to tighten a loose wheel.
“The minute I walked into the garage, people were high-fiving me,” Ganassi said. “Right now, we’ve got to
get our cars up the grid.”
It didn’t happen as Montoya finished two laps down in 20th and McMurray right behind in 21st.
For much of this race, it looked as if Biffle wouldn’t be caught. He led 204 laps to dominate early and
was clearly best as the race began in the hot, bright sunshine. Once the night cooled off the track,
Biffle was no match for Kahne.
“Kasey’s car was just better at night,” Biffle said.
An early crash took Patrick out of contention in the season-opening Daytona 500 and she finished 38th.
Patrick returned to Sprint Cup two weeks ago at treacherous Darlington and lasted throughout at the
track considered “Too Tough to Tame” and crossed the line in 31st.
Patrick’s goals this week were simply to be running at the end — and that she was. Starting 40th after a
poor qualifying effort, Patrick quickly fell top laps down. But she held on throughout the long, long
night.
Patrick also kept her humor. When she was cautioned by her team to keep hydrating, Patrick cracked, “Copy
that. Every time you don’t get an answer to a question, that’s what I’m doing.”
Patrick’s next Sprint Cup race will be at Bristol on Aug. 25. She promised to be more aggressive upon her
return.
“Now that I’m getting more comfortable in certain situations, it’s time to start testing those waters and
freeing the car up a little bit and seeing what we can get out of it,” Patrick said.
Earnhardt had hoped to avenge last year’s heartbreaking loss when he ran out of fuel 700 feet from the
finish line while leading. Earnhardt came as close to second and was drag-racing Hamlin for the lead on
the final restart before as the large crowd at Charlotte Motor Speedway howled. Earnhardt, too, couldn’t
keep up with his teammate and his winless drought grew to 141 races.
NASCAR’s king, career victory leader Richard Petty, had both his entries starting 1-2. But polesitter
Aric Almirola quickly fell back and finished 16th. Marcos Ambrose, who started second, broke a wheel hub
and ended up 32nd.
The race was the quickest ever for the 600 at 3 hours, 51 minutes, 14 seconds, nearly 5 minutes faster
than the mark set in 1995.
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Coca-Cola 600
Sunday
At Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, N.C.
Lap length: 1.5 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (7) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 400 laps, 135.5 rating, 47 points, $355,675.
2. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400, 112.7, 43, $284,831.
3. (17) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 400, 119.2, 42, $236,898.
4. (4) Greg Biffle, Ford, 400, 135.5, 42, $199,915.
5. (24) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 400, 99.6, 40, $174,010.
6. (12) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 400, 94.5, 38, $142,015.
7. (23) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 400, 100.2, 38, $165,276.
8. (14) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 400, 100.9, 37, $163,676.
9. (28) Carl Edwards, Ford, 400, 88.1, 35, $161,781.
10. (20) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 399, 93, 34, $157,226.
11. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 399, 111.2, 33, $155,541.
12. (15) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 399, 84.2, 32, $135,319.
13. (5) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 398, 85, 31, $135,619.
14. (16) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 398, 75.3, 30, $145,613.
15. (9) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 398, 73.2, 29, $113,305.
16. (1) Aric Almirola, Ford, 398, 82.1, 29, $177,466.
17. (10) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 398, 72.5, 27, $128,488.
18. (18) Landon Cassill, Toyota, 398, 65.3, 27, $127,075.
19. (22) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 398, 71.6, 25, $137,930.
20. (29) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 398, 64.9, 24, $129,796.
21. (31) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 397, 76.3, 23, $128,638.
22. (25) Casey Mears, Ford, 397, 53.9, 22, $112,838.
23. (19) Joey Logano, Toyota, 397, 57.4, 21, $103,755.
24. (13) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 397, 59, 0, $94,880.
25. (21) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 397, 60.6, 19, $144,430.
26. (39) David Gilliland, Ford, 397, 53.8, 18, $107,538.
27. (42) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 396, 54.3, 17, $112,413.
28. (26) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 396, 46.7, 16, $109,677.
29. (37) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 395, 46.7, 15, $100,005.
30. (40) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 395, 42.9, 0, $92,880.
31. (41) T.J. Bell, Ford, 390, 34.2, 0, $96,730.
32. (2) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 367, 93.6, 13, $126,513.
33. (11) A J Allmendinger, Dodge, 361, 67.2, 11, $133,055.
34. (6) Mark Martin, Toyota, engine, 338, 81.2, 10, $89,055.
35. (30) David Ragan, Ford, engine, 281, 47.3, 10, $88,205.
36. (32) Michael McDowell, Ford, engine, 228, 38.5, 8, $88,080.
37. (38) Scott Speed, Ford, fuel pump, 136, 35.6, 7, $87,855.
38. (35) David Stremme, Toyota, rear gear, 86, 30.9, 6, $87,742.
39. (34) Stephen Leicht, Chevrolet, vibration, 74, 29, 5, $92,300.
40. (36) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, engine, 54, 35.6, 4, $84,165.
41. (43) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, vibration, 47, 30.9, 0, $84,005.
42. (27) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, vibration, 33, 27.4, 0, $83,925.
43. (33) Josh Wise, Ford, vibration, 15, 27.3, 1, $84,290.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 155.687 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 51 minutes, 14 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 4.295 seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 23 laps.
Lead Changes: 31 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M.Ambrose 1-2; A.Almirola 3-5; M.Ambrose 6-8; G.Biffle 9-14; M.Ambrose 15-22; G.Biffle
23-113; M.Ambrose 114-120; Ky.Busch 121-124; G.Biffle 125-134; J.Gordon 135-138; Ky.Busch 139-171;
D.Ragan 172; Ky.Busch 173-190; G.Biffle 191-219; K.Kahne 220-221; G.Biffle 222; L.Cassill 223; G.Biffle
224-280; K.Kahne 281-307; D.Hamlin 308; G.Biffle 309-315; K.Kahne 316; G.Biffle 317; K.Kahne 318;
G.Biffle 319-320; D.Hamlin 321-332; K.Kahne 333-353; B.Keselowski 354; K.Harvick 355; J.Gordon 356;
K.Kahne 357-400.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): G.Biffle, 9 times for 204 laps; K.Kahne, 6 times for 96
laps; Ky.Busch, 3 times for 55 laps; M.Ambrose, 4 times for 20 laps; D.Hamlin, 2 times for 13 laps;
J.Gordon, 2 times for 5 laps; A.Almirola, 1 time for 3 laps; B.Keselowski, 1 time for 1 lap; K.Harvick,
1 time for 1 lap; L.Cassill, 1 time for 1 lap; D.Ragan, 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 12 in Points: 1. G.Biffle, 453; 2. M.Kenseth, 443; 3. D.Hamlin, 437; 4. D.Earnhardt Jr., 435; 5.
J.Johnson, 405; 6. M.Truex Jr., 404; 7. K.Harvick, 398; 8. Ky.Busch, 391; 9. T.Stewart, 388; 10.
C.Edwards, 372; 11. B.Keselowski, 368; 12. C.Bowyer, 366.