Kasey Kahne Wins Bristol For the First Time in His Career

Bristol, TN- For the first time in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, Kasey Kahne drove his way to victory lane at Thunder Valley. After taking the lead from Brad Keselowski with 45 laps to go, Busch took off and never looked back.

“Absolutely, this is a big win. I love racing for Hendrick Motorsports, Rick Hendrick the opportunity he gives us, this whole team was flawless again today. Last week, today, this whole season so far. It has been a lot of fun. Great Clips, I’ve been with them for a long time. We have won a few races together it was great to win a (NASCAR Sprint) Cup race with Great Clips. They were out cutting hair a couple of days ago. It’s been a good weekend, Farmers Insurance, Chevrolet SS, Pepsi Max, but everybody has done a great job. Just racing Brad (Keselowski), Denny (Hamlin) was tough and Jeff (Gordon) and Matt Kenseth was really good there. I don’t know what happened to those guys. It looked like Jeff (Gordon) might have had a tire problem. It was a big win I’m really happy,” Kahne said in Victory Lane.

“I just feel like for myself it’s a really big accomplishment to win here. This is a tough place. It’s been a tough track for me at times, just for this whole team to step up and do it together we have prepared pretty hard this year and it feels good to win. Trucker, our truck driver, he lost his dad last night so this is for him. I have a great friend in Washington, JJ Arnett. He lost his dad about three weeks ago. So, this is in memory of him, Jerry Arnett. We had a lot of fun with him; he took care of us, got us out of a lot of trouble. I just want to thank all those guys and everybody that supports this team. This engine was unbelievable again.This is a tough track to win at, and we pulled it off today. This whole team stepped-up, and did an unbelievable job. The pit stops were flawless; the adjustments to the car; the preparation Friday-Saturday, and prior to that. The engine in the car is unbelievable. I had a great day. This is a lot of fun. I have always wanted to win a Cup race here. To finally do it feels really good.”

Tempers flared after the Food City 500 between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano.Although, Joey Logano would not discuss what he said, Hamlin did. “He said he was coming for me,” Hamlin said. “I usually don’t see him, so it’s usually not a factor.” The fued between the former teammates started in February after the Daytona 500, in which Hamlin said had nothing to do with Sunday’s race in Bristol. “It didn’t have anything to do with that,” Hamlin said. “You’ve really got to control your car and he slipped up into me. Really, he would have been in the garage with no radiator in it if I had not checked up twice. I meant to run in to him. I didn’t mean to spin him out, but his day was fine. We finished bad and he finished bad. It’s even.”

Kyle Busch finished second, followed by Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer.