Kasey Kahne won the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway, scoring his fourth NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 84th career start.
This is Kahnes third victory in 2006, tying Jimmie Johnson for the most this season. Kahnes last victory came at Texas in April 2006, five races earlier.
Kahne won from a ninth-place starting position. All three of his other victories came from the Bud Pole.
Kahnes first victory came at Richmond in May 2005. His other three wins have all come on SMI-owned 1.5-mile superspeedways.
Kahne scored his seventh top-10 finish in 12 races this season.
Kahne led the most laps for the fourth time in his career (only two produced victories- Richmond and Lowes). This marked the first time in 2006 that Kahne led the most laps in a race.
Kahne led seven times for 158 laps including the final 30 laps in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway.
Kahne has won a race each season 2005-2006, two consecutive years.
This marked team owner Ray Evernhams 10th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory and first at Lowes Motor Speedway.
Evernham Motorsports has won at least one race each season 2001 2006, six consecutive years.
Notebook Items
Jimmie Johnson (second) scored his ninth top-10 finish in 2006. It was his ninth straight top-10 finish in 10 races at Lowes Motor Speedway, all seventh or better. Johnson remained first in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings, now 109 points ahead of second-place Matt Kenseth.
Carl Edwards (third) scored his sixth top-10 finish in 2006. He tied his best finish in 2006 set at California. It is his third straight top-10 finish in three races at Lowes. Edwards climbed from 17th to 14th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings.
Mark Martin (fourth) scored his seventh top-10 finish in 2006. It was his in 21st top-10 finish in 43 races at Lowes Motor Speedway. He climbed from fourth to third in the point standings. One year ago he ranked 12th in the standings after 12 races.
Matt Kenseth (fifth) scored his eighth top-10 finish in 2006. It was his seventh top-10 finish in 14 races at Lowes Motor Speedway. He climbed from third to second in the point standings. One year ago he ranked 23rd after 12 races.
Jeff Burton (sixth) has climbed from 21st to eighth in the point standings since Martinsville.
Three races ago Greg Biffle was 232 points behind 10th. With his seventh-place finish, Biffle is now 86 points behind 10th. Biffle has climbed from 23rd to 13th in points in the last three races. After 12 races in 2005, he ranked second in the point standings.
Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year contender Denny Hamlin (ninth) posted his fifth top-10 finish in 2006. It marked his second top-10 finish in two races at Lowes Motor Speedway.
Two Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year contenders finished in the top-10: Denny Hamlin (ninth) and Reed Sorensen (10th). At least one of the Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contenders has scored a top-15 finish in all 12 races this season.
Dave Blaney (32nd) extended a 30-race streak of running at the finish that began at Pocono last June, which is the longest current streak.
Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson have each scored top-15 finishes in 11 of the 12 races in 2006.
Tony Stewart has finished 43rd (California) and 42nd (Lowes) in 2006. Stewart never finished worse than 33rd (first Phoenix) in his 2005 Championship season. However, in 2002 Stewart began his first Championship season with a 43rd-place finish in the 2002 Daytona 500. Stewart dropped from second to fourth in the point standings.
Dale Jarrett (43rd) scored the worst finish of his 615-race career. Jarrett finished last for just the second time. The first time that he finished last was at Sears Point on June 11, 1989. (42nd in a 42-car field).(NASCAR Statistical Services)(5-28-2006)
