Kasey Kahne won the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, scoring his second career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 76th career start. Kahne won from the Bud Pole.
Kahnes last victory came at Richmond, 29 races ago. He also won that race from the Bud Pole.
It was his first victory and fourth top-five finish in five Atlanta races.
Kahne scored his third top-five finish in four races this season. All four of his finishes in 2006 have been top 15s.
Kahne moved into second in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings, the highest ranking of his career.
Kahne led four times, including the final 80 laps. He did not lead the most laps
Dodge scored its first Atlanta victory since Richard Petty won this race at Atlanta in 1977 29 years ago.
The last victory from the Bud Pole at Atlanta came in the fall of 1996 by Bobby Labonte.
Eight of the last nine race winners at Atlanta have won from a top-10 starting position.
This was team owner Ray Evernhams eighth NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory and first at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Evernham Motorsports has won at least one race each season 2001 2006, six consecutive years.
Notebook Items
The last time a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race was won from the Bud Pole was by Matt Kenseth at Bristol in August 2005.
The best start to a season (after four races) was done twice. Herb Thomas (1954) and Bill Elliott (1992) each scored three victories in the first four races.
Mark Martin (second) has finished in the top-five in the last four races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He has scored four straight top-15 finishes to start the season. Martin climbed from fifth to fourth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. One year ago Martin ranked fifth.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (third) scored his sixth top-five finish in 14 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He climbed from 11th to seventh in the NASCAR NEXTEL cup standings.
Jeff Gordon (fourth) scored his 12th top-five finish in 28 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It marked his second topfive finish in 2006, both in the last two races.
Tony Stewart (fifth) scored his fifth top-five finish in 15 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was his second top-five finish in 2006. The defending NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Champion climbed from 19th to 12th in the point standings.
Jimmie Johnson (sixth) has finished four top-10 finishes, including two victories, in the first four races in 2006. He is the only driver to start the 2006 season with four top-10 finishes. He remained first in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. Johnson has ranked among the top-10 in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings for 73 straight races, a streak that began after race No. 4 at Atlanta in March 2004.
Paul Menard (seventh) scored his career best NASCAR NEXTEL Cup finish.
Reed Sorenson (10th) was the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contender in the 2006 Golden Corral 500. It marked the first top-10 finish of his short career.
Greg Biffle (16th) led the most laps (128) in the Golden Corral 500. The last time he led the most laps in a race was at California two races ago where he finished 42nd.
All seven of the 2006 Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contenders have competed in all four races in 2006 and two scored top-15 finishes in todays race.
Joe Nemechek (17th) has been running at the finish in the last 36 races, a streak that began at Bristol last April and is the longest current streak.(NASCAR Statistical Services)(3-20-2006)
