Kasey Kahne won the SONY HD 500 at California Speedway, scoring his sixth Nextel Cup victory in his 97th career start.
This is his fifth victory in 2006, the most of all drivers. Kahne also won at Atlanta, Texas, Charlotte and Michigan.
Kahne is the third driver to score a weekend sweep in 2006 joining Kevin Harvick at Phoenix in April and Matt Kenseth at Bristol one week ago.
This is only the second time in NASCAR history that a weekend sweep has occurred on back-to-back weekends.Harry Gant was the first driver to post back-to-back weekend sweeps winning both races at Richmond and Dover (September 1991).
This marked the first victory by a Dodge at California Speedway since the track opened in 1997.
Kahne became the 10th different race winner in the last 10 races at California Speedway.
Kahne scored his first victory in six races at California Speedway and fifth victory in 75 races on a superspeedway.
Kahne won the race from the ninth-place starting position.
Kahne scored his fourth top-10 finish in six races at California Speedway.
Kahne remained 11th in the point standings, now just 30 points behind 10th-place Jeff Burton.
Kahne led the most laps for the second time in 2006. Kahne also won and led the most at Lowes Motor Speedway.
Kahne led eight times for 130 laps including the final two laps in the Sony HD 500 at California Speedway.
This is team owner Ray Evernhams 12th Nextel Cup victory and first at California Speedway.
Evernham Motorsports has won at least one race each season 2001 2006, six consecutive years.
Notebook Items
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (second) scored his 12th top-10 finish in 2006. It was his third top-10 finish in 10 races at California. He climbed from ninth to sixth in the point standings, 77 points ahead of 11th place Kasey Kahne.
Clint Bowyer (third) scored his seventh top-10 finish in 2006. It is his first top-10 finish in two races at California Speedway.
Carl Edwards (fourth) scored his 13th top-10 finish in 2006. It is his fifth top-10 finish in five races at California.
Jeff Gordon (fifth) scored his 12th top-10 finish in 2006. It was his sixth top-10 finish in 13 races at California, all top-fives. Gordon climbed from fifth to fourth in the point standings, 102 points ahead of 11th place Kasey Kahne.
Denny Hamlin (sixth) scored his 13th top-10 finish in 2006, the most among the rookie contenders. He extended a streak of seven straight top-10 finishes that began at New Hampshire in July.
At least one of the Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contenders has scored a top-15 finish in all 25 races this season.
Matt Kenseth (seventh) scored his 15th top-10 finish in 2006. Kenseth took over the point lead by nine points over Jimmie Johnson. Johnson had held the point lead for the last 16 races since Talladega in May.
Jimmie Johnson (11th today) has been ranked among the top 10 for 94 consecutive races. He has been running at the finish in all 25 races in 2006.
Kevin Harvick (15th) extended a 37-race streak of running at the finish that began at California last September, the longest current streak. Harvick has posted nine straight top-15 finishes.
Jeff Burton (16th) dropped from seventh to 10th in the point standings and is just 30 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne.(NASCAR Statistical Services)(9-3-2006)
