KAHNE SIPS SONOMA VICTORY WINE

Kasey Kahne scored his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in over a year by holding off Tony Stewart in a green-white-checkered finish at the end of the Toyota Save Mart 350.

Like most teams competing in the Father’s Day event on the Northern California road course, the winner employed a pit strategy technique in an attempt to get to the front by race’s end. However the late stages of the race featured a battle between Kahne and Stewart that was enhanced by NASCAR’s new double file restart procedure. Both used a planned pit model to get to the front, and then raced each other on track after they got there.

Because of the length of time to make a lap around the Infineon Raceway, many teams relied on their own fuel mileage agenda and pitted on planned laps, regardless of whether the caution flag was waving or not. Kahne’s Kenny Francis-led group used the scenario to put their Dodge in command with thirty laps remaining and no plans to return to pit road.

The tame first part of the race was not an indicator of the later stages. Following the winner’s lead-taking maneuver from Scott Speed on a restart, four of the race’s seven yellow flags waved during his tenure at the point.

Kahne used the rule allowing the leader to choose his restart lane, inside or outside, to his advantage under the road course’s unique conditions. Kasey repeatedly chose the inside lane off the exit of the final turn, which put him on the outside lane for the first turn. But each time the bright red number nine held the advantage to Stewart’s similar colored Chevrolet.

The Enumclaw, Washington native moved within three points of the Chase for the Championship cutoff and now holds the thirteenth position. Stewart’s runner-up result helped him maintain his championship lead.

The checkered flag capped off a great day for Richard Petty Motorsports, which also placed two more cars in the top ten. It also marked “The King’s” first visit to NASCAR’s premiere series’ victory lane since Martinsville, VA in 1999. In addition to Kahne’s triumph, A.J. Allmendinger finished seventh, and Elliot Sadler finished tenth, both of who overcame one-lap deficits.

Allmendinger had an early race incident sliding off the track and losing a lap to the field. He raced strong throughout the contest and eventually earned a free pass back to the lead lap after dueling with the race leaders.

Sadler showed some muscle early, running in the top ten before suffering rear damage also in an off track slide. It took several pit stops to correct the body problems and he finally ended the race back in the top ten.

Marcos Ambrose finished a strong third following a Saturday engine change and a drop to the rear of the field. Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Allmendinger, Clint Boyer, Jeff Gordon, and Sadler rounded out the top ten finishers.