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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Kahne Takes Infineon Victory
Kasey Kahne won Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.
Tom Jensen  |  Posted June 21, 2009   Sonoma, CA
Team Owner Richard Petty (Left) celebrates with his winning driver Kasey Kahne (Right) after Kasey wins the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway (Photo: Getty Images)
Kasey Kahne, driver of the #9 Budweiser Dodge, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Kasey Kahne held off a fierce challenge from Tony Stewart to win Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, the first road-course race on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule.

Stewart pressured Kahne mightily in the race’s closing laps, but Kahne was able to give Richard Petty Motorsports its first victory as a team, with NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Stewart delivering another stellar performance with a runner-up finish in his Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet Impala SS.

It was Kahne’s 10th career Cup victory and his first in more than a year, as his Dodge Charger survived a green-white-checkered finish to hold off the hard-charging Stewart.

Finishing third was the JTG-Daugherty Racing Toyota of Marcos Ambrose, followed by Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy. Completing the top five was Denny Hamlin in a JGR Toyota.

The end of the race was far more dramatic than the start. Pole-sitter Brian Vickers led the field to the green in his Red Bull Racing Toyota and took off ahead of Kyle Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing entry. At one point, Vickers had a margin of nearly 2 seconds, but Busch began to reel him in, passing him cleanly on Lap 17 to take the lead for the first time.

The first caution came on Lap 22, when Jeff Burton spun in Turn 11, causing a small scrum in the hairpin.

The race restarted on Lap 25, the first road-course, double-file restart, since NASCAR changed its restart procedure. But everyone got through it OK, Busch holding the lead over Tony Stewart, Vickers, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne.

Busch short-pitted under green on Lap 27, just as he did last year, when he came from 30th to win the race. Half a dozen cars came in with him, including Martin Truex Jr. and Ron Fellows. Vickers, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and others came in a lap later.

Stewart pitted from the lead on Lap 30, putting Kahne in first, ahead of Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose, Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch. Kahne then came in on Lap 33, but stalled upon exit, losing valuable time and track position. During that sequence, Jimmie Johnson was given a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road.


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