Kasey Kahne did it again.
Making his first and possibly only Camping World Truck Series start of the year, Kahne cruised to a relatively comfortable win in Saturday’s Too Tough To Tame 200 at Darlington Raceway.
The victory made Kahne the first driver in the truck series to win three of his first four starts.
Second alongside Elliott Sadler on a restart with 53 laps to go, Kahne immediately dispatched of Sadler—who had taken two tires under the previous caution—and never trailed again.
Kahne held on through three more restarts, including a final one with three laps to go, to take the checkered flag ahead of four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. and 2010 Darlington winner Todd Bodine. Matt Crafton and James Buescher completed the top five.
Kahne’s stiffest challenge over the final laps came from Bodine, who once moved alongside before getting loose and falling into the clutches of Hornaday.
“I gave it a shot and got sucked around and got loose and all that and finished third,” Bodine said.
Kahne, a full-time driver in the Sprint Cup Series, scored truck wins at Darlington and Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2004 and finished second in a truck last year at Pocono Raceway.
Saturday marked Kahne’s second appearance in the Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota normally driven by team owner Kyle Busch, who was vacationing in Cancun.
“This is one of my favorite racetracks,” said Kahne, who qualified second and led four times for 95 of the 147 laps. “I’m really glad I came. I really enjoy driving this thing.”
The race was slowed by 10 cautions, including one for a three-truck wreck involving Johanna Long, Ricky Carmichael and Nelson Piquet Jr. that brought out the red flag for 7 minutes, 37 seconds.
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 18 Kasey Kahne Toyota 2 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 3 30 Todd Bodine Toyota 4 88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet 5 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 6 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 7 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 8 60 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 9 13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 10 81 David Starr Toyota 11 92 Clay Rogers Chevrolet 12 93 Shane Sieg Chevrolet 13 77 Justin Lofton Toyota 14 29 Parker Kligerman * Dodge 15 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 16 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 17 5 Travis Kvapil Toyota 18 9 Max Papis Toyota 19 46 Craig Goess * Toyota 20 1 Jeffrey Earnhardt * Chevrolet 21 15 Dusty Davis * Toyota 22 50 T.J. Bell Chevrolet 23 7 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 24 66 Justin Marks Chevrolet 25 62 Brendan Gaughan Toyota 26 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 27 7 Miguel Paludo * Toyota 28 22 Joey Coulter * Chevrolet 29 25 Tayler Malsam Toyota 30 4 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet 31 20 Johanna Long * Toyota 32 8 Nelson Piquet Jr. * Chevrolet 33 23 Jason White Chevrolet 34 10 Chase Mattioli * Ford 35 51 Justin Johnson * Toyota 36 32 Brad Sweet Chevrolet
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