Kasey Kahne won the 2006 Bank of America 500 at Lowes Motor Speedway, scoring his seventh career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 103rd career start.
This is Kahnes sixth victory in 2006, the most of all drivers.
Kahne scored his second victory in six races at Lowes. He swept both races here this season.
This is the third straight year that a driver has swept both races at Lowes. Jimmie Johnson swept both races here in 2004 and 2005.
Kahnes victory today was the seventh Dodge victory in 31 races in 2006.
Kahne won the race from the second-place starting position. The last seven races at Lowes have been won from a top-10 starting position.
Kahne climbed from ninth to eighth in the Championship standings, now 160 points behind first-place Jeff Burton.
Kahne led 134 of the 334 laps, including the final 26 – leading the most laps for the third time in 2006 and first time since second California.
This is team owner Ray Evernhams 13th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory and second at Lowes.
Notebook Items
Jimmie Johnson (second) scored his 19th top-10 finish in 2006, tied with Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth for the most this season. It is his 10th straight top-10 finish at Lowes. He has finished first or second in six of the last seven races here. Johnson climbed from eighth to seventh in the point standings.
Jeff Burton (third) scored his 19th top-10 finish in 2006. It is his 12th top-10 finish in 26 races at Lowes. Burton added 39 points to his lead, which is now 45 points over of second-place Matt Kenseth. Burton has scored five top-10 finishes in the last six races since Richmond in September.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fourth) scored his 14th top-10 finish in 2006 and his seventh top-10 finish in 15 races at Lowes.
Bobby Labonte (fifth) tied his season-best finish and scored his third top-10 finish in the last four races. It is his 17th top-10 finish in 28 races at Lowes.
Tony Raines (seventh) scored his second career top-10 finish and his first in 2006.
Joe Nemechek (ninth) scored his first top-10 finish in 2006 and first since he finished fourth in this race one year ago.
Tony Stewart (13th) remained 11th in the point standings. He has a 213-point lead over 12th-place Carl Edwards who finished eighth.
David Stremme (15th) was the highest finishing rookie for the first time in 2006.
Mark Martin (30th) ended a 37-race streak of running at the finish that began at Kansas City one year ago.
Five of the 10 Chase drivers finished in the top 10.
Eight of the 10 of The Chase drivers changed points positions at Lowes.(NASCAR Statistical Services)(10-14-2006)
