For the first time in two years, Kasey Kahne has taken his Budweiser Dodge to victory lane in stock car racing’s longest race of the season, the Coca Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway. Kasey Kahne started on the outside pole. Kahne had a strong car all day, running consistently in the top five most of the day. The Coca Cola 600 had a wild ending, as most of the field had to come into the pits for fuel with ten laps to go, and then race leader Tony Stewart blew a tire, allowing Kasey Kahne to take the lead and, eventually, the checkered flag. This is Kahne’s second victory in as many weeks. Kahne won the NASCAR All-Star race last weekend at Lowes Motor Speedway after being voted into the race by fans. The Coca Cola 600 had 37 lead changes among 16 leaders.
The racing on Sunday night was much more action packed than many have predicted. There was side by side racing mid pack after the first 100 laps, when drivers were being patient and figuring out the track. The finish provided an exciting finish for a long and arduous race.
The race began as most races have this season, with Kyle Busch being shot out of a canon from the start. Busch lead the first thirty laps until he began to experience problems with his alternator, which was draining the power from his batteries. Busch would go one lap down, but would be able to recover from the mechanical setback late in the race and salvage a third place finish.
While most drivers were being conservative early on, Busch’s teammate, Tony Stewart, who started in 31st place, was plowing through the field, reaching as high as 20th place after only ten laps. Stewart got held back the first quarter of the racing, finding it difficult to move through the field. As the race progressed, however, Stewart was able to get through the field and was in contention to win the race until he blew a right side tire with a little more than two laps to go, surrendering the lead to race winner Kasey Kahne. Stewart would finish one lap down, in 18th place.
In a rare occurrence, Jimmy Johnson suffered an engine failure in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, forcing a 39th place finish after running strong the entire day. Johnson lead twice on Sunday night, and would have been in contention for a win late in the race, had it not been for the engine failure.
Dale Earnhardt Jr, who had the car to beat all day, had an excellent finish despite trouble all day long. He had trouble on his second pit stop that cost him 10 seconds and then lost a tire on lap 296 and hit the wall hard and then was hit from behind by J.J. Yeley. Though it appeared that Earnhardt Jr’s day was done, Earnhardt Jr. was able to take advantage of NASCAR rules by speeding on pit road and falling the tail end of the longest line instead of going a lap down. Earnhardt Jr. would be able to salvage a fifth place finish, giving him his fourth top five finish this season.
Brian Vickers had strong beginning to the Coca Cola 600, leading twice during the race. Vickers appeared like he would be competing for a victory, however he spun his Red Bull Toyota and hit the wall, collecting David Gilliland along the way. One of Vickers’ tires broke off his car and bounced into the infield, where fans were watching the race. Luckily, no one was injured by the stray tire.
