September 7, 2009
By Ron Felix
Kevin Harvick had a two second lead on the field with 16 laps to go in the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway when his teammate, Clint Bowyer, spun out and brought out the tenth and final caution of the night.
All the lead lap cars pitted with Kasey Kahne beating Harvick out of the pits. Kahne picked the inside line on the restart with eleven laps to go -- Kahne got the jump, took a huge lead and never looked back.
"I knew we were in trouble there at the end because it took our car 15 or 20 laps to get going," Harvick said. "But, hey, that's a long ways from where we've been. We led a bunch of laps tonight, something we haven't been able to do in a while. I'm happy. Obviously you want to go out and win. But from where we've been this year, I think tonight feels like a win. We'll just take this momentum and hopefully keep it going."
CIA Stock Photos
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Kahne and Richard Petty Celebrate
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It was a great night for Kahne, who desperately needed a good finish, he came into Sunday night's race clinging to eleventh spot in the race for the Chase. With the victory, Kahne jumped all the way to sixth spot in the standings. It was the second win of the year for Kahne and the 11th victory in 205 career races.
“I knew Harvick and (Juan Pablo) Montoya would be tough there in the end, but we had a better car for about 10 laps,” said Kahne, who led six times for 60 laps en route to his second NASCAR Sprint Cup win in Atlanta. Kahne previously won the 2006 Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The crowd at Atlanta was one of the best in many years, the holiday weekend and the night race all combined to make it a highly successful event.
“To see the crowd here tonight and be at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day and have so many people who were yelling and excited … it’s great to see that many people here and that excited for a Sprint Cup race,” said Kahne.
“The entire Budweiser Dodge team did great. The pit stops were awesome," Kahne continued. "(Kevin) Harvick was best on the long run, but when we got that last caution and the restart with 11 to go, I knew we had a shot at the victory. It’s all about making the Chase. That certainly put us in a better position going to Richmond. I knew Harvick and (Juan Pablo) Montoya were going to be tough. I hadn’t gotten through the gears all night and (David) Reutimann gave me a push on the frontstretch and got me going. It was a great win for Richard Petty Motorsports and the Budweiser Dodge team.”
Harvick held on to second and Juan Pablo Montoya settled for third place after also leading late in the race.
David Reutimann finished fourth followed by Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle to round out the top ten.
Three drivers had an opportunity to lock themselves into the Chase -- Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin -- only Hamlin was able to capitalize on the lock. Edwards experienced oil cooler problems and Busch wrecked late in the race.
"I had a loose race car all night. We just couldn't get the handle of our Miller Lite Dodge," said Busch. "I was sideways and I guess the 43 hit us, he had nowhere to go. It was a real hard hit; that was a bummer. We were just trying to get a handle on it. We just couldn't do it. I felt like we were on the spring (race) tires and everybody else was on the fall (race) tires.
"I was trying to hang on to it and get to the next pit stop, but it kept getting looser and looser all night. It's hard when you had a dominant car (at the spring race) and we didn't want to change too much on it. We just got bit tonight by the loose bug."
Joey Logano posted a 22nd-place finish and grabbed top rookie honors for the 18th time this season.
“We were plugging away in the beginning of the race and we did good there," said Logano. "We made one pit stop and the thing was plowing tight. We were back in the top-10 and we were plowing, plowing, and I was like man, this thing is horrible. We loosed it up, nothing. Loosened it up, nothing. Finally we get it loose enough and all of a sudden now I’m wrecking loose. We made a pit stop, tightened it up and I spin out I’m so loose and I feel like I’m spinning out after that. And then finally after the last pit stop we’re down a lap and the thing starts to be back the way it was when it was fast. I don’t get it, makes no sense to me. I don’t get it.
"I don’t really like this joint. This is the toughest place I’ve come to so far. We were top-10 at one point. We were running with the 9, running with those guys that won the race. I don’t know what went wrong. I know Kyle was up there winning the race at the beginning of the race and he went down a lap with me. I don’t understand how you can go from that good to junk. I don’t know.”
Jimmie Johnson had a night he'd soon want to forget, after leading early in the race, Johnson's car got looser and looser until he couldn't hold onto it any longer. On lap 200 of 325, Johnson spun out on Turn 2. Then Johnson broke an axle during his stop on lap 247 and had to go to the garage got get it repaired. Johnson made a second trip to the garage and finished the race in 37th place, 23 laps down.
"The Kobalt Tools Impala started out good but then I started to get real loose," said Johnson. "We had trouble with the rear of the car. We broke the locker and we had to come to the garage to fix it. It was just an unfortunate night for us."
The race was slowed by ten cautions for a total of 42 laps -- and the there were 30 lead changes among 13 different drivers.
The Sprint Cup Series moves to Richmond International Raceway next Saturday night for the final race to determine who will and who won't be in the "Chase for the Championship."
The race will also be broadcast live on MRN Radio and SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 128.
For Full Final Race Results...
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