Kasey Kahne managed to win his first NASCAR event since 2009 on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.
In a race between the only two drivers mathematically alive for the Cup championship, Edwards finished second and Stewart third, but Stewart led the most laps for the second consecutive week and leaves Phoenix just three points behind Edwards as the drivers prepare to settle the issue in the season finale next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Jeff Burton ran fourth at Phoenix with Ryan Newman in fifth. A.J. Allmendinger, David Reutimann, Marcos Ambrose, Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer completed the top 10.
The big difference on Sunday for Kahne was his team’s final pit stop on lap 288. Running second to Edwards at the time, Kahne had fresher tires for three more laps around the 1-mile, repaved and reconfigured track.
He took the lead for the first and final time with 14 laps remaining when then-leader Kurt Busch pulled to pit road.
“It definitely [made the difference] for me,” Kahne said of his final pit stop. “If we didn’t have that little bit of a lead ....” Scene Daily
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 2 99 Carl Edwards Ford 3 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 4 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 5 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 6 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 7 0 David Reutimann Toyota 8 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 9 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 10 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 11 20 Joey Logano Toyota 12 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 13 16 Greg Biffle Ford 14 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 15 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 16 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 17 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 18 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 19 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 20 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 21 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 22 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 23 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 24 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 25 84 Cole Whitt Toyota 26 13 Casey Mears Toyota 27 135 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 28 38 J.J. Yeley Ford 29 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 30 32 Mike Bliss Ford 31 34 David Gilliland Ford 32 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 33 6 David Ragan Ford 34 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 35 7 Robby Gordon Dodge 36 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 37 36 Geoffrey Bodine Chevrolet 38 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 39 46 Scott Speed Ford 40 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 41 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 42 37 Mike Skinner Ford 43 55 Travis Kvapil Ford
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