Kahne takes Bristol Busch win

Kahne ran a very high line in the banking, making the most of the new surface while finding grip where others struggled to get any.

With that unique racing line, he was able to overtake Ryan Newman with nine laps to go after some fender rubbing, and then kept Leffler just behind him until the chequer flag.

"It's a blast, I can't believe we won at Bristol," said Kahne. "I got my first pole here earlier today and we just hope we can have a good race tomorrow too.

"It was an awesome battle with Jason Leffler and Ryan Newman, and Leffler raced me clean in the end.

"With Ryan I couldn't clear him. I kept working the bottom and he had the momentum and I couldn't get back, so finally I went to the top because Jason was there. We came together in the backstretch, had some contact, but kept it going."

Leffler crossed the finish line spinning to second place after being tapped from behind by David Reutimann, who looked like taking some revenge on a previous incident the pair had a few weeks ago at O'Reilly Raceway Park.

He led the most laps during the race and was on a different strategy to Kahne, having pitted later and having the benefit of fresher tyres and more grip to launch his late challenge for victory.

"In the end I got checked up and [Reutimann] hit me, but I don't know how long he's going to whine about ORP, I didn't spin him out there," Leffler said.

"Kasey did a good job controlling the race running on the outside. I tried to slide him there in the last lap, so that's why I checked up and David got in the back of me; but no big deal."

Reutimann finished third, having led the race for 33 laps. Kyle Busch made a great recovery from a penalty, which dropped him down the order on a restart on lap 179.

He moved quickly up the field and just ran out of laps to put himself in contention for victory, finishing a strong fourth.

Ryan Newman was probably the biggest loser of the night after being so close to take victory. He led 64 laps, but after contact with Kahne while battling for the lead he picked up a left front tyre puncture, which ended his day in tears and down in 28th place.

Scott Wimmer had yet another great run to finish fifth in the No. 21 RCR car, ahead of David Ragan and JR Motorsports' Brad Keselowski, who made another step towards keeping his drive until the end of the year.

Points leader Carl Edwards finished 11th and was never in position to repeat his March victory at the track, while his closest challenger in the points, Kevin Harvick, didn't have the best of races coming home in 16th.

Jeff Burton was one of several drivers to be involved in big wrecks, but probably his was the most painful as he had been leading the race and looked a contender for victory until crashing heavily with Eric McClure on lap 76.

Australian Marcos Ambrose had en eventful night, which ended when he spun in Turn 3 and was then collected at full speed by Robert Richardson. The incident required the race to be red flagged to allow officials to clean fluids that dampened the track.

The points standing has changed again but only behind Edwards, as David Reutimann moved up to second place after his third place finish, while Kevin Harvick slipped down to third.

Pos  Driver                  Make        Laps
 1.  Kasey Kahne             Dodge       250
 2.  Jason Leffler           Toyota      250
 3.  David Reutimann         Toyota      250
 4.  Kyle Busch              Chevrolet   250
 5.  Scott Wimmer            Chevrolet   250
 6.  David Ragan             Ford        250
 7.  Brad Keselowski         Chevrolet   250
 8.  Clint Bowyer            Chevrolet   250
 9.  Jamie McMurray          Ford        250
10.  Aric Almirola           Chevrolet   250
11.  Carl Edwards            Ford        250
12.  Bobby Hamilton Jr       Ford        250
13.  Mike Bliss              Dodge       250
14.  Greg Biffle             Ford        250
15.  David Stremme           Dodge       250
16.  Kevin Harvick           Chevrolet   250
17.  Brad Coleman            Chevrolet   250
18.  Danny O'Quinn Jr        Chevrolet   250
19.  Casey Mears             Chevrolet   250
20.  Stephen Leicht          Ford        250
21.  Travis Kvapil           Ford        250
22.  Johnny Sauter           Ford        250
23.  Dale Jarrett            Toyota      250
24.  Jason Keller            Chevrolet   250
25.  Mark Green              Chevrolet   250
26.  Kyle Krisiloff          Ford        250
27.  Bobby Labonte           Chevrolet   247
28.  Ryan Newman             Dodge       246
29.  Kelly Bires             Ford        244
30.  DJ Kennington           Dodge       242
31.  Brent Sherman           Chevrolet   239
32.  Steve Wallace           Dodge       238
33.  Reed Sorenson           Dodge       237
34.  Matt Kenseth            Ford        229
35.  Mike Wallace            Chevrolet   225
36.  Brian Vickers           Toyota      214
37.  Marcos Ambrose          Ford        169
38.  Robert Richardson, II   Chevrolet   165
39.  JJ Yeley                Chevrolet   127
40.  Jeff Burton             Chevrolet   118
41.  David Gilliland         Ford         98
42.  Eric McClure            Chevrolet    74
43.  Morgan Shepherd         Dodge        17