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Kasey Kahne takes his first win for Hendrick in Charlotte NASCAR Sprint Cup race

Kasey Kahne became the 16th different driver to win for Hendrick Motorsports, as he claimed his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory for the organisation in Sunday night's 600-mile race at Charlotte

Kahne's win makes it three weekends of consecutive success for the team after Jimmie Johnson scored Hendrick's 200th Cup win at Darlington and then triumphed in the following week's All-Star race.

Before Kahne's late surge Roush Fenway's Greg Biffle had dominated. However, as the race entered its decisive stages in dusk, Biffle started to struggle with balance following a two-tyre pitstop.

Then, following the fifth and final caution with 75 laps to go and with a fuel stop ahead for the leaders, Kahne passed first his team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr and then Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, who had both stayed out to gain track position as most of the leaders pitted.

Kahne reclaimed the lead for good 68 laps from the end and was unchallenged from then on, beating Hamlin by more than four seconds.

"It felt really good to put the entire race together," said Kahne following his 13th career win and his third in NASCAR's longest race. "Our car was really fast, pitstops were great and the adjustments the team came up with during the race were awesome."

Hamlin's strategy gamble on the last caution paid off as he was able to make good use of his track position advantage on the last restart, helping him to a second-place finish ahead of his Gibbs team-mate Kyle Busch.

Biffle's 204 laps in the lead were to little avail in the end as he finished fourth and had no chance to contend for the victory, though his points lead remains solid.

"It seemed like when the speeds picked up and it was cool out, our car just started sliding the tyres a little bit," said Biffle. "I can't believe how fast we were... we gained a little in points, but we really wanted the win."

Penske's Brad Keselowski recovered from an early penalty for speeding in the pits, plus pit road contact with reigning champion Tony Stewart, to round out the top five despite damage to the right front of his Dodge.

Three of Hendrick's four cars made it into the top seven as Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon followed Keselowski, while Johnson lost a possible shot at victory following a mistake at his final stop, which resulted in a penalty as he left his pit-stall while his car was still being refueled.

Stewart had another disappointing night, finishing three laps down in 27th place, only three places ahead of his team-mate Danica Patrick, who crossed the finish-line five laps behind the winner, surviving her third Cup outing without any big dramas.

Only nine cars finished the race on the lead lap, the last of them being Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards.

Results - 400 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet           3h51m14.000s
 2.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                     + 4.295s
 3.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                    + 10.676s
 4.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford               + 16.010s
 5.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                    + 19.174s
 6.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet              + 22.533s
 7.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet              + 24.561s
 8.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet             + 26.083s
 9.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford               + 27.239s
10.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford                 + 1 lap
11.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet                + 1 lap
12.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                    + 1 lap
13.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                   + 2 laps
14.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet           + 2 laps
15.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet              + 2 laps
16.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                       + 2 laps
17.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet          + 2 laps
18.  Landon Cassill      BK Toyota                        + 2 laps
19.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet              + 2 laps
20.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet      + 2 laps
21.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet      + 3 laps
22.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                     + 3 laps
23.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                     + 3 laps
24.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford               + 3 laps
25.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet           + 3 laps
26.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   + 3 laps
27.  Kurt Busch          Phoenix Chevrolet                + 4 laps
28.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota             + 4 laps
29.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                        + 5 laps
30.  Danica Patrick      Stewart/Baldwin Chevrolet        + 5 laps
31.  TJ Bell             FAS Lane Ford                   + 10 laps
32.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                      + 33 laps
33.  AJ Allmendinger     Penske Dodge                    + 39 laps

Retirements:

     Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota                   338 laps
     David Ragan         Front Row Ford                   281 laps
     Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                     228 laps
     Scott Speed         Leavine Family Ford              136 laps
     David Stremme       Inception Toyota                  86 laps
     Stephen Leicht      Little Joe's Chevrolet            74 laps
     Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet                 54 laps
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                      47 laps
     Cole Whitt          Turn One Chevrolet                33 laps
     Josh Wise           Front Row Ford                    15 laps

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