bigbadbrother
09-01-2014, 04:06 PM
Tom Jensen
Kasey Kahne made a stunning late-race pass on the final restart to score a dramatic victory in Sunday night's Oral-B 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and lock himself into the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Kahne split the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin on the second and final green-white-checkered finish to score his critical first victory of the season and 17th of his career.
With the win, Kahne joins Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Chase field. All told, the Hendrick squad has won 10 of 25 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season.
Kenseth finished second, followed by Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Danica Patrick, who had the best finish of her career with a sixth-place run.
In his first race back after missing the last three events, Tony Stewart cut a right-front tire and finished 41st. He declined to comment after dropping out of the race.
But the night's big winner was Kahne, who in his four previous Atlanta starts hadn't finished better than 23rd.
"It's tough. We've had kind of a downer year this year," said Kahne.
On this night, though, he put it all together when needed.
Promising night at Atlanta takes bad turn for returning Stewart
"We were kind of all over the place throughout the race," said Kahne, the 13th different winner in 25 Sprint Cup races this season. "But the guys stayed with me, worked hard. Those restarts, I didn't know what would happen, but I had great restarts all night, and I struggle with restarts, so that's big. That's one of the things you have to be good at."
Kevin Harvick started from the pole and pulled out to a comfortable lead over first Kyle Larson and then Jeff Gordon. Harvick's biggest obstacles early on were of the animal variety, with first a cat and then a squirrel running onto the track in front of him in the opening laps.
On Lap 78, Gordon's left-front tire went down, putting the second-place No. 24 Chevrolet into the Turn 3 wall. That took the four-time series champion out of contention for the race victory.
Harvick surrendered the lead for the first time under the ensuing caution, with Hamlin's crew busting off a sub 12-second pit stop to take the top spot. On Lap 108, Harvick retook the point and again pulled away as Hamlin's car began to get loose.
Dominant night for Harvick ends on unhappy note
Eight laps later, Ryan Truex spun in Turn 4 to bring out another caution. Thanks to another 11.7-second pit stop, Hamlin went back out front again, his crew doing a stellar job.
On the restart, Kenseth took the lead, Harvick fell to fourth, and Kyle Busch hit Stewart, sending him into the wall. Then Marcos Ambrose lost an engine, bringing out yet another caution.
This time it was Kurt Busch's turn to move out front, taking the lead two laps after the track went green on Lap 135.
Kenseth ducked under Busch to move out front on Lap 159, with Harvick dropping Busch to third a lap later. At the halfway point, the top five was Kenseth, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Hamlin.
Harvick blew by Kenseth on Lap 165, and within five laps had opened a gap on the second-place Toyota of 1.92 seconds.
Jeff Gordon blows tire, hits wall running second at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Then, just has Harvick and Kenseth came in to pit under green on Lap 171, Stewart hit the Turn 2 wall and Kurt Busch lost a right-rear tire at the same time.
Still, the fastest car made its presence felt, with Harvick again passing Kenseth for the lead on Lap 183.
A debris caution sent the field down pit road on Lap 211, Kenseth winning the race off pit road over Harvick. That was fifth time Harvick lost the lead on pit road on the night, although he regained it on Lap 228.
Then, on Lap 296, the caution came out after Keselowski had contact with Josh Wise. Once again, Hamlin won the race off pit road over Harvick.
The race restarted on Lap 303, with Kahne going to the lead over Harvick and Hamlin.
Coming together: Chase field much clearer with one race to go
But on Lap 324, the caution came out after Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch crashed on the frontstretch, with Busch appearing to dump Truex.
The leaders pitted on Lap 325, with the order now Kenseth, Paul Menard, Hamlin, Harvick and Kahne. Kenseth and Menard took two tires each, with everyone else taking four.
On the first attempt at a restart, Harvick got sandwiched between Joey Logano and Menard, and hit the wall. After leading 195 laps, Harvick finished 19th.
On the second restart, Kahne went to the middle and passed Kenseth on the bottom and Hamlin on the top for the win and a trip to Victory Lane.
"I'm pretty pumped up to be here," said Kahne.
Oral-B USA 500
Aug 31, 2014 | Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, Georgia | 500.5 mi
Pos Driver Car # Make Started Laps Led Points Driver Rating
1 Kasey Kahne 5 Chevrolet 10 335 25 47 105.2
2 Matt Kenseth 20 Toyota 5 335 53 43 118.6
3 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota 17 335 37 42 114.9
4 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 16 335 0 40 105.7
5 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 11 335 0 39 101.3
6 Danica Patrick 10 Chevrolet 27 335 0 38 81.3
7 Ryan Newman 31 Chevrolet 4 335 0 37 94.2
8 Kyle Larson 42 Chevrolet 3 335 0 36 91.1
9 Aric Almirola 43 Ford 7 335 0 35 83.8
10 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 18 335 0 34 83.7
11 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 88 Chevrolet 20 335 0 33 83.8
12 Jamie McMurray 1 Chevrolet 15 335 0 32 76.2
13 Kurt Busch 41 Chevrolet 22 335 22 32 91.9
14 Joey Logano 22 Ford 14 335 0 30 105.2
15 Brian Vickers 55 Toyota 19 335 0 29 92.3
16 Kyle Busch 18 Toyota 8 335 0 28 68.7
17 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 9 335 0 27 111.4
18 Paul Menard 27 Chevrolet 33 335 0 26 79.6
19 Kevin Harvick 4 Chevrolet 1 335 195 27 132.4
20 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17 Ford 26 334 0 24 62.9
21 Michael Annett 7 Chevrolet 25 334 0 23 59.2
22 Casey Mears 13 Chevrolet 24 334 0 22 51.0
23 Martin Truex Jr. 78 Chevrolet 6 334 0 21 71.2
24 Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet 13 334 0 20 62.9
25 Ty Dillon 33 Chevrolet 29 332 0 0 55.6
26 Justin Allgaier 51 Chevrolet 31 332 0 18 53.4
27 David Ragan 34 Ford 38 331 0 17 49.6
28 David Gilliland 38 Ford 37 330 0 16 48.5
29 Reed Sorenson 36 Chevrolet 43 330 0 15 41.0
30 Cole Whitt 26 Toyota 40 329 0 14 41.7
31 Landon Cassill 40 Chevrolet 42 329 0 0 36.2
32 J.J. Yeley 32 Ford 41 328 0 0 32.9
33 Josh Wise 98 Chevrolet 36 328 0 11 37.6
34 Brett Moffitt 66 Toyota 35 327 0 10 33.7
35 Alex Bowman 23 Toyota 30 326 0 9 38.6
36 Ryan Truex 83 Toyota 39 326 0 8 32.5
37 Joe Nemechek 77 Ford 34 324 0 0 27.3
38 Clint Bowyer 15 Toyota 21 314 0 6 60.2
39 Brad Keselowski 2 Ford 2 296 3 6 91.4
40 AJ Allmendinger 47 Chevrolet 23 258 0 4 51.4
41 Tony Stewart 14 Chevrolet 12 170 0 3 68.0
42 Marcos Ambrose 9 Ford 32 122 0 2 46.9
43 Mike Bliss 37 Chevrolet 28 23 0 0 27.6
2014 Oral-B USA 500 Stats
Scheduled Laps: 325
Total Laps: 335
Distance: 500.5 miles
Lead Changes: 22
Kasey Kahne made a stunning late-race pass on the final restart to score a dramatic victory in Sunday night's Oral-B 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and lock himself into the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Kahne split the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin on the second and final green-white-checkered finish to score his critical first victory of the season and 17th of his career.
With the win, Kahne joins Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Chase field. All told, the Hendrick squad has won 10 of 25 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season.
Kenseth finished second, followed by Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Danica Patrick, who had the best finish of her career with a sixth-place run.
In his first race back after missing the last three events, Tony Stewart cut a right-front tire and finished 41st. He declined to comment after dropping out of the race.
But the night's big winner was Kahne, who in his four previous Atlanta starts hadn't finished better than 23rd.
"It's tough. We've had kind of a downer year this year," said Kahne.
On this night, though, he put it all together when needed.
Promising night at Atlanta takes bad turn for returning Stewart
"We were kind of all over the place throughout the race," said Kahne, the 13th different winner in 25 Sprint Cup races this season. "But the guys stayed with me, worked hard. Those restarts, I didn't know what would happen, but I had great restarts all night, and I struggle with restarts, so that's big. That's one of the things you have to be good at."
Kevin Harvick started from the pole and pulled out to a comfortable lead over first Kyle Larson and then Jeff Gordon. Harvick's biggest obstacles early on were of the animal variety, with first a cat and then a squirrel running onto the track in front of him in the opening laps.
On Lap 78, Gordon's left-front tire went down, putting the second-place No. 24 Chevrolet into the Turn 3 wall. That took the four-time series champion out of contention for the race victory.
Harvick surrendered the lead for the first time under the ensuing caution, with Hamlin's crew busting off a sub 12-second pit stop to take the top spot. On Lap 108, Harvick retook the point and again pulled away as Hamlin's car began to get loose.
Dominant night for Harvick ends on unhappy note
Eight laps later, Ryan Truex spun in Turn 4 to bring out another caution. Thanks to another 11.7-second pit stop, Hamlin went back out front again, his crew doing a stellar job.
On the restart, Kenseth took the lead, Harvick fell to fourth, and Kyle Busch hit Stewart, sending him into the wall. Then Marcos Ambrose lost an engine, bringing out yet another caution.
This time it was Kurt Busch's turn to move out front, taking the lead two laps after the track went green on Lap 135.
Kenseth ducked under Busch to move out front on Lap 159, with Harvick dropping Busch to third a lap later. At the halfway point, the top five was Kenseth, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Hamlin.
Harvick blew by Kenseth on Lap 165, and within five laps had opened a gap on the second-place Toyota of 1.92 seconds.
Jeff Gordon blows tire, hits wall running second at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Then, just has Harvick and Kenseth came in to pit under green on Lap 171, Stewart hit the Turn 2 wall and Kurt Busch lost a right-rear tire at the same time.
Still, the fastest car made its presence felt, with Harvick again passing Kenseth for the lead on Lap 183.
A debris caution sent the field down pit road on Lap 211, Kenseth winning the race off pit road over Harvick. That was fifth time Harvick lost the lead on pit road on the night, although he regained it on Lap 228.
Then, on Lap 296, the caution came out after Keselowski had contact with Josh Wise. Once again, Hamlin won the race off pit road over Harvick.
The race restarted on Lap 303, with Kahne going to the lead over Harvick and Hamlin.
Coming together: Chase field much clearer with one race to go
But on Lap 324, the caution came out after Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch crashed on the frontstretch, with Busch appearing to dump Truex.
The leaders pitted on Lap 325, with the order now Kenseth, Paul Menard, Hamlin, Harvick and Kahne. Kenseth and Menard took two tires each, with everyone else taking four.
On the first attempt at a restart, Harvick got sandwiched between Joey Logano and Menard, and hit the wall. After leading 195 laps, Harvick finished 19th.
On the second restart, Kahne went to the middle and passed Kenseth on the bottom and Hamlin on the top for the win and a trip to Victory Lane.
"I'm pretty pumped up to be here," said Kahne.
Oral-B USA 500
Aug 31, 2014 | Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, Georgia | 500.5 mi
Pos Driver Car # Make Started Laps Led Points Driver Rating
1 Kasey Kahne 5 Chevrolet 10 335 25 47 105.2
2 Matt Kenseth 20 Toyota 5 335 53 43 118.6
3 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota 17 335 37 42 114.9
4 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 16 335 0 40 105.7
5 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 11 335 0 39 101.3
6 Danica Patrick 10 Chevrolet 27 335 0 38 81.3
7 Ryan Newman 31 Chevrolet 4 335 0 37 94.2
8 Kyle Larson 42 Chevrolet 3 335 0 36 91.1
9 Aric Almirola 43 Ford 7 335 0 35 83.8
10 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 18 335 0 34 83.7
11 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 88 Chevrolet 20 335 0 33 83.8
12 Jamie McMurray 1 Chevrolet 15 335 0 32 76.2
13 Kurt Busch 41 Chevrolet 22 335 22 32 91.9
14 Joey Logano 22 Ford 14 335 0 30 105.2
15 Brian Vickers 55 Toyota 19 335 0 29 92.3
16 Kyle Busch 18 Toyota 8 335 0 28 68.7
17 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 9 335 0 27 111.4
18 Paul Menard 27 Chevrolet 33 335 0 26 79.6
19 Kevin Harvick 4 Chevrolet 1 335 195 27 132.4
20 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17 Ford 26 334 0 24 62.9
21 Michael Annett 7 Chevrolet 25 334 0 23 59.2
22 Casey Mears 13 Chevrolet 24 334 0 22 51.0
23 Martin Truex Jr. 78 Chevrolet 6 334 0 21 71.2
24 Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet 13 334 0 20 62.9
25 Ty Dillon 33 Chevrolet 29 332 0 0 55.6
26 Justin Allgaier 51 Chevrolet 31 332 0 18 53.4
27 David Ragan 34 Ford 38 331 0 17 49.6
28 David Gilliland 38 Ford 37 330 0 16 48.5
29 Reed Sorenson 36 Chevrolet 43 330 0 15 41.0
30 Cole Whitt 26 Toyota 40 329 0 14 41.7
31 Landon Cassill 40 Chevrolet 42 329 0 0 36.2
32 J.J. Yeley 32 Ford 41 328 0 0 32.9
33 Josh Wise 98 Chevrolet 36 328 0 11 37.6
34 Brett Moffitt 66 Toyota 35 327 0 10 33.7
35 Alex Bowman 23 Toyota 30 326 0 9 38.6
36 Ryan Truex 83 Toyota 39 326 0 8 32.5
37 Joe Nemechek 77 Ford 34 324 0 0 27.3
38 Clint Bowyer 15 Toyota 21 314 0 6 60.2
39 Brad Keselowski 2 Ford 2 296 3 6 91.4
40 AJ Allmendinger 47 Chevrolet 23 258 0 4 51.4
41 Tony Stewart 14 Chevrolet 12 170 0 3 68.0
42 Marcos Ambrose 9 Ford 32 122 0 2 46.9
43 Mike Bliss 37 Chevrolet 28 23 0 0 27.6
2014 Oral-B USA 500 Stats
Scheduled Laps: 325
Total Laps: 335
Distance: 500.5 miles
Lead Changes: 22