Kahne wins AMS night race

By RICK MINTER

For the AJC

A near-capacity crowd at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday night got their money’s worth and more as the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the track’s first scheduled night Sprint Cup race, brought about the kind of drama that NASCAR fans have come to expect.

Kasey Kahne took the win, passing Kevin Harvick with 11 laps to go and motoring away to his second win of the season. It was the 31st lead change on a night that saw several drivers dominate at one point only to struggle later on.

Harvick, who led 66 laps, second only to polesitter Martin Truex Jr.’s 68, appeared to have the race in hand, but a spin by his Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer gave Kahne the break he needed as Kahne’s car was fast early in runs while Harvick’s tended to come in later.

“It just came down to a short run tonight,” said Harvick, who finished second, ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya, David Reutimann and Mark Martin.

Among Kahne’s first comments upon exiting his Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge was one about the AMS crowd, estimated at 111,300, the largest in years.

“To see a crowd like this in Atlanta, it’s been a long time,” he said.

The rest of what he said was about his car.

“We just had a great car throughout the race,” he said. “This thing was quick all night, and the pit crew was incredible.”

Kahne’s 11th career Cup win moved him up five spots in the points standings to sixth place, and he now has a 96-point cushion over 13th-place Brian Vickers. He was outside the elite 12 just nine races ago.

The AMS finish sets up a dramatic night at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday, where the field for the 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup will be set.

Heading into Richmond, Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers are just outside the top 12 but within striking distance of a Chase berth, while only four drivers – Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin – are locked in.

Matt Kenseth salvaged his 12th position in the standings with a gutsy performance in a car patched up from an early-race run-in with the wall.

Only sixth finishing Hamlin was able to add his name to the list of drivers locked into the Chase.

Three drivers at the top of the points standings - Johnson, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards - experienced mechanical problems or wrecked.

The worn pavement at AMS had drivers slipping and sliding, using grooves from the bottom to the top of the track. Cars that were fast early in green-flag runs would slow later on, and vice-versa.

It was like driving on ice, but the good thing at this place is you can move from the top to the bottom,” Harvick said.

Kyle Busch, who is tied with Mark Martin for most race wins with four, struggled with an ill-handling car and finished 13th, which puts him 14th in the standings, 37 points out of the elite 12.

Brian Vickers turned in another steady performance, finishing seventh and moving to 13th in the standings, just 20 markers away from a Chase berth. It was his eight straight finish of 12th or better.

Bowyer, who came into the race with an outside chance of making the Chase, dropped off the lead lap after being forced to make a pit stop under the green flag to have a loose wheel replaced. He finished 29th, ending any hopes of making the Chase and ending any chance of his Richard Childress Racing team of putting a driver in the Chase. In the past two years, all of Childress’ teams made the cut.