Kahne Wins Texas Busch Race

Kahne, who started 23rd on the grid, had one of the fastest cars on the day, steadily moving through the field to run with the leaders from early in the race, and had enough to hold off a challenge at the end to claim the an impressive win.

Controversial racer Shane Hmiel was on pole ahead of Martin Truex, who claimed the lead after the first lap, using the track time he enjoyed during yesterday's IROC event to good effect.

Kahne made good use of his car on the second fastest track in the series to move up to tenth position by lap 19, while ahead of him Hmiel fell back to sixth after being tapped from behind but managing to hold the car off the wall.

Tony Stewart had no such luck - he was helped into the wall to bring out the first caution flag on lap 29. At the restart Truex led from Mark Martin, but Kahne had the pair in his sights, eventually taking the lead around lap 50 after the first round of stops, from Greg Biffle, Martin, Hmiel and Reed Sorenson.

The race ran green until the lead pack needed to make some stops, with Kahne and Biffle in on lap 93, Martin on 95 and Hmiel one lap later. After the stops the order at the front was Biffle from Martin and Kahne.

The inevitable caution flags came out on lap 112 for debris, with everyone peeling into the pits two laps later. Sorenson took only fuel, while Truex and Hmiel changed just two tyres to get out ahead of Biffle, Martin and Kahne.

The race ran green on 118, with Hmiel having a great restart to claim the lead from Sorenson, while Truex went the opposite way - he had dropped back to seventh by the time Justin Labonte hit the wall on lap 128, keeping his car running but launching the yellow flags.

Sorenson and Truex peeled in for a full set of tyres and fuel, moving Biffle, Kahne and Martin up immediately behind Hmiel, who lost the lead to Biffle when the race ran live again.

Geoff Bodine prompted the next caution period, running into the inside wall on lap 146 and sparking some more stops. Hmiel in particular was slow due to a problem with the jack man, and after the stop he and Kahne were back in eighth and ninth respectively.

Meanwhile at the front Jamie McMurray was a surprising race leader, running ahead of Sorensen, David Green and the ubiquitous Kahne until two back to back yellow flag periods, the latter slow down sparked when Hmiel slide into wall, bounced off and tapped Ashton Lewis into Blake Feese, causing the pair to have a huge crash.

The restart came with 32 laps to go - Kahne was up to third, while Sorensen ran low to take the lead on lap 169 just as Truex found the wall, giving Hmiel a chance to pit and check his car for damage, moving him back to 23rd position.

At the green the order was Sorenson, Kahne, McMurray, Edwards and Biffle. Kahne took the lead just as a damaged Lewis hit the wall with eight to go, while just off the lead a desperately unlucky McMurray was forced to drive into the pits to retire with a slowing car.

The order was Kahne, Sorenson, Biffle, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer as the race ran green with just two laps to run - Biffle took a slightly ragged Sorenson on the last lap, but didn't have enough to do more, handing Kahne an easy run to the flag.

Carl Edwards' run to fourth means he holds onto the points lead, heading Sorenson by just 76 points.

O'Reilly 300, Texas Motor Speedway - Race Results:

Pos Driver              Make       Laps
 1. Kasey Kahne         Dodge      200
 2. Greg Biffle         Ford       200
 3. Reed Sorenson       Dodge      200
 4. Carl Edwards        Ford       200
 5. Elliott Sadler      Ford       200
 6. Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  200
 7. Matt Kenseth        Ford       200
 8. Jon Wood            Ford       200
 9. Kenny Wallace       Ford       200
10. Shane Hmiel         Chevrolet  200
11. David Green         Ford       200
12. Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet  200
13. Jason Keller        Ford       200
14. Johnny Sauter       Dodge      200
15. Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet  200
16. Michael Waltrip     Chevrolet  200
17. Tim Fedewa          Dodge      200
18. David Stremme       Dodge      200
19. Paul Menard         Chevrolet  198
20. Sterling Marlin     Dodge      198
21. Michel Jourdain Jr  Ford       198
22. Derrike Cope        Ford       198
23. J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet  198
24. Stacy Compton       Ford       198
25. Stanton Barrett     Chevrolet  198
26. Jerry Robertson     Chevrolet  197
27. Randy LaJoie        Chevrolet  197
28. Jeremy Mayfield     Dodge      197
29. Jamie McMurray      Dodge      194
30. Steve Grissom       Ford       194
31. Eric McClure        Ford       188
32. Mark Martin         Ford       187
33. Ashton Lewis        Ford       183
34. Justin Labonte      Chevrolet  179
35. Brent Sherman       Dodge      179
36. Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet  170
37. Brandon Miller      Chevrolet  160
38. Blake Feese         Chevrolet  158
39. Geoffrey Bodine     Chevrolet  142
40. David Ragan         Chevrolet  139
41. Kertus Davis        Chevrolet   99
42. Ryan Hemphill       Dodge       40
43. Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   27