Kasey Kahne has joined his Hendrick Motorsports team-mates in making the Chase for the Sprint Cup with victory at the Oral-B USA 500 in Atlanta.
Kahne took the lead from Matt Kenseth in the second attempt at a green-white-chequered finish to make NASCAR’s version of the play-offs with one race remaining. It was his 17th career race win and he will take part in the Chase with stablemates Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in the Chase.
“It took a lot,” Kahne said. “We were all over the place. The guys stayed with me and worked hard,” said Kahne.
“Really happy. It’s tough. We’ve had a downer year at times. It’s been one thing after another. But we’re in the Chase with our teammates, I have great teammates. It’s awesome to work with those guys. Glad we’re in the Chase.”
Kenseth finished second and also clinched a spot in the Chase on points despite not having won a race this season.
Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Johnson and Carl Edwards. Danica Patrick scored her best result in the Sprint Cup with a sixth place finish.
Australia’s Marcos Ambrose was classified 42nd after he had an engine failure and will have his final chance of making the Chase at Richmond International Raceway next weekend.
“We were fighting to get our lead lap back and was working hard at it, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” said Ambrose.
“Something happened going into turn two with the engine. It didn’t give any warning, and there was nothing I could do.”
Tony Stewart’s return didn’t end on the right note after he finished one place ahead of Ambrose when he hit the wall after contact with Kyle Busch. Despite several pit stops to repair the damage his night was done after again hitting the wall after tyre failure.
“We got off to a good start,” said Chad Johnston, Stewart’s crew chief. “I went into today with some pretty high hopes of finishing well and possibly coming out of here with a win, but it just didn’t work out in our favor. We got into a little trouble with (Busch) and got into the outside wall and a lot of heavy right side damage.
“We were just trying to fix that and salvage what we could, but then we blew a right front. It’s really good to have him back.”
The other driver to have a tough night was Clint Bowyer, who entered Atlanta with a 31-point cushion over the Chase cut-off line. However, a transmission problem sent him the garage for repairs, dropping him to 38th at finish.
He could make the Chase via points at Richmond but now will need a win to be certain.
VIDEO: Final Laps
VIDEO: Victory Lane
RESULTS: Oral-B USA 500 – Atlanta Motor Speedway
| Pos | CAR | DRIVER | MANUFACTURER | STARTING POS. | LAPS | LAPS LED | FINAL STATUS | POINTS | BONUS POINTS |
| 1 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 10 | 335 | 25 | Running | 47 | 4 |
| 2 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 5 | 335 | 53 | Running | 43 | 1 |
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 17 | 335 | 37 | Running | 42 | 1 |
| 4 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 16 | 335 | 0 | Running | 40 | 0 |
| 5 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 11 | 335 | 0 | Running | 39 | 0 |
| 6 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 27 | 335 | 0 | Running | 38 | 0 |
| 7 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 4 | 335 | 0 | Running | 37 | 0 |
| 8 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 3 | 335 | 0 | Running | 36 | 0 |
| 9 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 7 | 335 | 0 | Running | 35 | 0 |
| 10 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 18 | 335 | 0 | Running | 34 | 0 |
| 11 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Chevrolet | 20 | 335 | 0 | Running | 33 | 0 |
| 12 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 15 | 335 | 0 | Running | 32 | 0 |
| 13 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 22 | 335 | 22 | Running | 32 | 1 |
| 14 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 14 | 335 | 0 | Running | 30 | 0 |
| 15 | 55 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | 19 | 335 | 0 | Running | 29 | 0 |
| 16 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 8 | 335 | 0 | Running | 28 | 0 |
| 17 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 9 | 335 | 0 | Running | 27 | 0 |
| 18 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 33 | 335 | 0 | Running | 26 | 0 |
| 19 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 1 | 335 | 195 | Running | 27 | 2 |
| 20 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | 26 | 334 | 0 | Running | 24 | 0 |
| 21 | 7 | Michael Annett | Chevrolet | 25 | 334 | 0 | Running | 23 | 0 |
| 22 | 13 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | 24 | 334 | 0 | Running | 22 | 0 |
| 23 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | Chevrolet | 6 | 334 | 0 | Running | 21 | 0 |
| 24 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 13 | 334 | 0 | Running | 20 | 0 |
| 25 | 33 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 29 | 332 | 0 | Running | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | 51 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 31 | 332 | 0 | Running | 18 | 0 |
| 27 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | 38 | 331 | 0 | Running | 17 | 0 |
| 28 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | 37 | 330 | 0 | Running | 16 | 0 |
| 29 | 36 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 43 | 330 | 0 | Running | 15 | 0 |
| 30 | 26 | Cole Whitt | Toyota | 40 | 329 | 0 | Running | 14 | 0 |
| 31 | 40 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 42 | 329 | 0 | Running | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | 32 | J.J. Yeley | Ford | 41 | 328 | 0 | Running | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | 98 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | 36 | 328 | 0 | Running | 11 | 0 |
| 34 | 66 | Brett Moffitt | Toyota | 35 | 327 | 0 | Running | 10 | 0 |
| 35 | 23 | Alex Bowman | Toyota | 30 | 326 | 0 | Running | 9 | 0 |
| 36 | 83 | Ryan Truex | Toyota | 39 | 326 | 0 | Running | 8 | 0 |
| 37 | 77 | Joe Nemechek | Ford | 34 | 324 | 0 | Running | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 21 | 314 | 0 | Running | 6 | 0 |
| 39 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 2 | 296 | 3 | Accident | 6 | 1 |
| 40 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 23 | 258 | 0 | Vibration | 4 | 0 |
| 41 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 12 | 170 | 0 | Accident | 3 | 0 |
| 42 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 32 | 122 | 0 | Engine | 2 | 0 |
| 43 | 37 | Mike Bliss | Chevrolet | 28 | 23 | 0 | Vibration | 0 | 0 |
POINTS STANDINGS
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