Kahne heats up, solidifies Hendrick
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.