CONCORD, N.C. — For the second time this season, Tony Stewart had victory in sight at one of NASCAR’s crown jewel events.
He again came up empty.
But unlike the heartbreak at the Daytona 500, when a last-lap pass left him devastated, Stewart stormed into his trailer kicking at the cabinets after a fluke flat tire with three laps to go stole his Coca-Cola 600 win.
Kasey Kahne, meanwhile, celebrated in Victory Lane for the second straight week.
“Tony Stewart had the win right there, and had a little problem, so we definitely had some help,” Kahne said after Sunday night’s win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Stewart used pit strategy to make a run for the win in NASCAR’s longest race of the year when his Joe Gibbs Racing team tried to stretch a set of tires the final 100 laps of the race. A later three-second stop for a splash of gas seemingly locked up the win — until his tire went flat. He was forced to pit, and Kahne zipped past him for the victory.
Stewart has yet to win the 600 in 10 career tries, an agonizing stretch for a former open-wheel driver who grew up dreaming of an Indianapolis 500 victory. With his focus now on NASCAR, he’ll settle for any sort of Memorial Day weekend win.
Instead, he wound up a frustrating 18th and stormed into his hauler without comment. Crew chief Greg Zipadelli was left to answer questions about yet another near-miss for a No. 20 team still searching for its first win of the season.
“It’s just stupid. I don’t know,” Zipadelli said. “We must have run over something, small leak or something. But I’ll just say we lost a tire with a 5 1/2-second lead. I don’t even know what to say, I’m so frustrated. I feel bad for everybody.
“All day we did a good job. We knew we needed to keep our car where it was and it would be good at the end and we did exactly that, and we just fell short.”
It was the second consecutive defeat in the 600 for Stewart, who led 55 laps here last May only to fall short on fuel and forfeited the lead for a late gas-and-go.
Kahne rode the momentum from last week’s all-star race victory to snap a 52-race winless streak in points events dating to October 2006. In doing so, he became just the sixth driver — joining Davey Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Darrell Waltrip — to win the all-star race and the 600 in this eight days of racing at LMS.
But unlike last week, when he gambled on pit strategy to win the race, Kahne had a car capable of winning.
“It wasn’t like we weren’t fast,” Kahne said. “When luck’s on your side … it’s great.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600
At Lowe’s Motor Speedway
Concord, N.C.
Lap length: 1.5 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (2) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 400 laps, 131.8 rating, 190 points, $422,766. 2. (4) Greg Biffle, Ford, 400, 107.6, 175, $248,600. 3. (1) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 400, 125.0, 170, $240,700. 4. (18) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 400, 78.6, 160, $197,011. 5. (6) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 400, 117.2, 165, $152,925. 6. (14) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 400, 109.3, 155, $167,433. 7. (12) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 400, 91.3, 151, $163,341. 8. (9) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 400, 91.9, 147, $147,695. 9. (30) Carl Edwards, Ford, 400, 86.1, 138, $160,425. 10. (28) David Reutimann, Toyota, 400, 85.9, 134, $116,375.
11. (23) Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 400, 81.5, 130, $143,891. 12. (5) David Ragan, Ford, 400, 99.8, 132, $115,100. 13. (20) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 400, 82.6, 124, $147,325. 14. (19) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 400, 73.6, 121, $146,636. 15. (7) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 400, 81.5, 118, $136,908. 16. (8) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 400, 94.4, 120, $97,250. 17. (11) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 400, 86.4, 117, $117,993. 18. (31) Tony Stewart, Toyota, 399, 91.2, 114, $152,961. 19. (37) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 399, 54.9, 106, $104,850. 20. (27) AJ Allmendinger, Toyota, 399, 59.1, 103, $92,225.
21. (38) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 399, 62.9, 105, $133,375. 22. (17) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 399, 54.0, 97, $123,639. 23. (15) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 399, 66.1, 94, $102,100. 24. (16) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 399, 72.8, 96, $127,266. 25. (39) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 398, 49.7, 88, $106,675. 26. (41) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 398, 51.3, 85, $117,989. 27. (29) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 397, 46.2, 82, $103,108. 28. (13) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 397, 44.1, 79, $103,783. 29. (21) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 396, 47.2, 81, $104,300. 30. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge, 396, 49.6, 73, $117,683.
31. (26) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 396, 36.4, 70, $97,025. 32. (40) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 395, 35.0, 67, $100,558. 33. (33) Ken Schrader, Chevrolet, 395, 39.7, 64, $86,725. 34. (24) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 395, 58.5, 61, $119,183. 35. (43) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 395, 28.8, 58, $85,500. 36. (36) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 389, 27.1, 55, $94,922. 37. (34) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, engine, 363, 29.9, 52,$85,150. 38. (35) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 353, 45.0, 49, $93,035. 39. (10) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, engine, 351, 94.5, 51,$149,861. 40. (32) David Gilliland, Ford, 343, 49.7, 43, $84,815.
41. (25) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, Overheating, 244, 44.8, 40,$92,705. 42. (3) Brian Vickers, Toyota, Accident, 184, 92.8, 42, $90,875. 43. (22) Robby Gordon, Dodge, Engine, 181, 44.2, 34, $92,891.
Race statistics
Average speed of race winner: 135.772 mph.
Time of race: 4 hours, 25 minutes, 9 seconds.
Margin of victory: 10.203 seconds.
Caution flags: 11 for 50 laps.
Lead changes: 37 among 16 drivers.
Lap leaders: Ky.Busch 1-33; B.Vickers 34-46; J.Johnson 47-51; D.Ragan 52-53; J.Johnson 54-62; D.Earnhardt Jr. 63; C.Mears 64; J.Johnson 65-66; Ku.Busch 67-119; G.Biffle 120-121; B.Vickers 122-126; Ku.Busch 127-137; B.Vickers 138-162; D.Earnhardt Jr. 163; B. Vickers 164-181; J.Johnson 182-185; K.Kahne 186; D.Earnhardt Jr. 187-206; K.Kahne 207-225; E.Sadler 226-228; D.Earnhardt Jr. 229-245; R.Newman 246; Ky.Busch 247-259; D.Earnhardt Jr. 260-296; T.Stewart 297-299; K.Kahne 300; T.Stewart 301-311; K.Kahne 312-331; J.Johnson 332-346; Ky.Busch 347-361; K.Kahne 362-383; T.Stewart 384-387; J.Burton 388; M.Kenseth 389; D.Hamlin 390; D.Blaney 391-392; T.Stewart 393-397; K.Kahne 398-400.
Leaders summary (driver, times led, laps led): Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5 times for 76 laps; Kasey Kahne 6 times for 66 laps; Kurt Busch 2 times for 64 laps; Kyle Busch 3 times for 61 laps; Brian Vickers 4 times for 61 laps; Jimmie Johnson 5 times for 35 laps;Tony Stewart 4 times for 23 laps; Elliott Sadler 1 time for 3 laps;Greg Biffle 1 time for 2 laps; Dave Blaney 1 time for 2 laps; David Ragan 1 time for 2 laps; Jeff Burton 1 time for 1 lap; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 1 lap; Matt Kenseth 1 time for 1 lap; Casey Mears 1 time for 1 lap; Ryan Newman 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 12 in points: 1. Ky.Busch, 1,860. 2. J.Burton, 1,766. 3. D.Earnhardt Jr., 1,721. 4. D.Hamlin, 1,596. 5. C.Bowyer, 1,578. 6. C.Edwards, 1,538. 7. K.Harvick, 1,517. 8. T.Stewart, 1,511. 9. J.Johnson, 1,493. 10. J.Gordon, 1,486. 11. G.Biffle, 1,483. 12. K.Kahne, 1,454.
