Kahne dominates at Lowe's

Kahne's Evernham Motorsport Dodge dominated the longest race of the NASCAR calendar, leading 158 laps of the 400.

Kahne took the lead from Carl Edwards for the final time on lap 371 and pulled away to beat current points leader Johnson, who has won the last three Coca Cola 600s, by 2.145 seconds. It is Kahne's third win of the season, and moves him up to sixth in the points standing.

"Putting some duck tape on the nose brought the car to life," Kahne said. "I knew the car needed to be loosened up in order for it to work and the guys in the pits did an awesome job to win.

"Today has been awesome. I watched the Indy 500 just before the race and they were awesome too."

Johnson tried hard to live with Kahne, but ultimately he had to watch his winning streak come to an end. He spent 365 laps in the top ten - more than any other driver.

"We were close tonight and had a great car but on average they were better than us throughout and not just the last segment," Johnson said. "I didn't have speed at the end. I have to give my congratulations to Kasey, I know how hard it is to win a 600-mile race."

Last night's Busch Series race winner Carl Edwards secured third place with a superb recovery drive. Although he lost out to Johnson in the final laps, Edwards was still happy with a podium finish having fought back from a penalty for pitting while the pitlane was closed, and spinning in turn 2 following a puncture.

"We kept freeing the car up and it got a little too free in," he said, "and we played with tyre pressures all night. We overcame some terrible adversity tonight and I was so proud of my team."

Mark Martin finished fourth, just ahead of teammate Matt Kenseth who moved up to second in the championship standings with a solid run to fifth, followed by Jeff Burton in sixth and Greg Biffle in seventh.

Polesitter Scott Riggs eventually finished 13th having led 90 laps. He was in contention for the victory until the latter stages, however he stalled during his final pitstop.

The race - approaching five hours in length - contained 15 caution periods for a variety of incidents and accidents.

Casey Mears triggered the race's biggest wreck on the 314th lap. Mears lost control of his Ganassi Racing Dodge approaching the oval's final kink, causing Kyle Busch to lose control of his car, crashing hard into the wall. David Stremme also sustained minor damage.

Several cars had to take the grass in avoidance but Busch was angry at Mears for the incident, and threw his HANS device at Mears' car when he passed by on the following lap.

Reigning NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart was an early casualty after a punctured right-front tyre pitched him into the wall on lap 33. Stewart needed assistance to be removed from his Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and was taken to a local hospital and subsequently released.

Jeff Gordon's race ended in bizarre fashion, when his right-front suspension collapsed with 39 laps to go, pitching him into the wall.

Pos  Driver              Make        Laps
 1.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       400
 2.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   400
 3.  Carl Edwards        Ford        400
 4.  Mark Martin         Ford        400
 5.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        400
 6.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   400
 7.  Greg Biffle         Ford        400
 8.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        400
 9.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet   400
10.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       400
11.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   400
12.  Jeff Green          Chevrolet   400
13.  Scott Riggs         Dodge       400
14.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   400
15.  Jeremy Mayfield     Dodge       400
16.  Robby Gordon        Chevrolet   400
17.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       400
18.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   399
19.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   399
20.  J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet   399
21.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   399
22.  Travis Kvapil       Chevrolet   399
23.  Casey Mears         Dodge       398
24.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet   398
25.  Kyle Petty          Dodge       397
26.  Ken Schrader        Ford        397
27.  Scott Wimmer        Chevrolet   397
28.  Sterling Marlin     Chevrolet   396
29.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet   396
30.  Elliott Sadler      Ford        396
31.  David Stremme       Dodge       396
32.  Dave Blaney         Dodge       395
33.  Terry Labonte       Chevrolet   393
34.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   373
35.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       369
36.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   360
37.  Brian Vickers       Chevrolet   331
38.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet   313
39.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       290
40.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   264
41.  Michael Waltrip     Dodge       116
42.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet    32
43.  Dale Jarrett        Ford          0