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Kahne records first win in Chevy American Revolution 400

RICHMOND, Virginia - Kasey Kahne can breathe a huge
sigh of relief.

With six runner-up finishes under his belt, Kahne took his first
career NASCAR Nextel Cup checkered flag in Saturday's Chevy
American Revolution 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

After winning his second straight pole Friday, Kahne led a
career-high 242 laps around the 3/4-mile track for his first win
in 47 career starts. Following a single-file restart with
eight laps remaining, he denied a pass attempt by Tony Stewart
on the outside before re-establishing a sizable lead.

"Tony went to the outside and got a great run on me on that last
restart," Kahne said. "He got a fender on me and I had to race
him into turns 3 and 4 and we were able to clear him again."

Averaging 100.316 miles per hour in a Dodge Charger, Kahne
crossed the start-finish line a whopping 1.674 seconds ahead of
Stewart's Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Stewart led eight times for
143 laps but was chasing Kahne for the final 106.

"To have Tony on my heels the whole race was pretty awesome to
me," Kahne said. "It was just an unbelievable feeling. I was
pretty nervous. I've been leading races before and not won
'em."

Before making his first premier series trip to victory lane,
Kahne was congratulated by Stewart. In 1999, it was Stewart who
recorded his first career victory in this event.

"If we were going to run second to anyone, Kasey Kahne is the
guy to run second to," Stewart said. "It's been long overdue and
he deserved to win tonight. I'm pretty honored that when they
tell this story for the next five of six years about his first
win, at least I was the guy that ran second to him.

"It brought back so many memories of (1999) and the same race I
got my first win at."

In addition to recording an important career first, Kahne erased
some bad memories here. Entering the fall race here ninth in
the standings on the eve of the inaugural "Chase for the Nextel
Cup," Kahne ran a disappointing 24th and was bounced from the
top 10 by winning driver and teammate Jeremy Mayfield.

"Last year we struggled here every race," said Kahne, who ran
28th in this event last year. "We never crashed, just couldn't
run good."

Kahne's victory was the first for team owner Ray Evernham since
Mayfield's triumph in the series' last visit here. It also
allowed Kahne to gain entry into next weekend's All-Star
Challenge, which is reserved for winners the last two seasons
and past event and series champions.

"To get his first win on a short track, we never really expected
that because we ran so badly here in the fall," Evernham said.
"What a great day for Evernham Motorsports. It feels awesome to
be climbing back up that ladder."

The 25-year-old Kahne fell far from enduring the most runner-up
finishes before an initial victory. James Hylton had 12
runner-ups before posting his first victory - on this track - in
March 1970.

Ryan Newman, who was driving a backup Dodge after crashing his
primary car in practice, took third. It was the second straight
top-five for Newman, who was fifth last week in Darlington.

The Chevrolets of rookie Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick rounded
out the top five. Greg Biffle, who won last week for his third
checkered flag of the season, ran sixth in a Ford Taurus.

Series points leader Jimmie Johnson, who was spun into the
inside wall by Travis Kvapil on lap 80, finished 40th. While
his Chevrolet Monte Carlo did not appear in bad shape after the
initial collision with the wall, it sustained significant
right-front damage when he hit the wall a second time on his
return lap to pit road.

"When I was taking my lap around just trying to get back to the
pit road and went down the backstretch and the steering failed,"
Johnson said. "When I climbed on the brakes, all the camber in
the car and castor in it, I braked and I turned right into the
inside wall again.

"If it didn't hurt that I backed it into the wall the first
time, it killed it the second time."

Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, who entered
the event second in the series standings, also hit the wall on
lap 165 following an accident involving Rusty Wallace and Bobby
Labonte. Despite a number of subsequent trips to pit road for
repairs, Gordon's night ended when his Chevrolet was taken to
the garage on lap 193.

"I know exactly what happened," said Gordon, who was saddled
with a 39th-place finish. "It was one of the stupidest things
I've ever done in my life. You know, a car spun in front of me,
I saw smoke and I slowed down, decided to take it a little
high, just ran straight into the wall - by myself."

It marked the first time since June 6 that both Johnson and
Gordon failed to finish an event. Johnson had his standings
lead reduced to 41 points over Biffle, who moved past Gordon
into second.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won this event last year and was
runner-up to Mayfield here in the fall, finished 14th despite
being a lap down at one point.

"We had a 10th-place car right at the end of the race but we
didn't have a 10th-place car during the middle part of the race
and we lost a lot of track position," Earnhardt said.

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