Kahne collects cool mil
CONCORD, N.C. -- Kasey Kahne won a popularity contest, then parlayed it into a $1 million payday.
After failing to qualify for the All-Star Race, Kahne grabbed a spot in the field when the fans voted him into Saturday night's event at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Already running on house money, he gambled on his final pit stop to steal the $1 million prize. And in holding off Greg Biffle in the final segment, Kahne became just the third driver in All-Star Race history to advance from the preliminary race into the show and then win the main event.
"We got voted in by the fans which was really, really special, and it feels good to know that we have that many fans following our team," said Kahne, who could have raced his way in by finishing first or second in the Sprint Showdown. He was fifth, and needed the fan vote to claim the third transfer spot in the 24-driver field.
The fan vote gave Kahne a chance to run in the 100-lap shootout, which was intermittently dominated by Kyle Busch, Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. But he used the gamble on the final pit stop -- not taking any tires -- to put the field in his rearview mirror to become the first driver ever voted in by the fans to win.
He had no shame in winning because his fans put him in the race.
"Yeah, I want to race my way in. I don't even want to be in the Open," said Kahne, the first Dodge winner in the event. "I want to be in because we won races last year or the beginning of this year. But the situation is that it's really cool they give the fans an opportunity to vote. They put us in and for some reason, we ended up being the best car tonight and that's just part of the rules."
The gamble on final pit strategy helped Kahne advance his position and restart in second when the final 25-lap segment began. Biffle, who had led the final 11 laps of the third segment, took two tires and was mired back in traffic on the restart.
Biffle never got a chance to run down Kahne, who slid past leader Jimmie Johnson to lead the final 17 laps and claim the victory and credit crew chief Kenny Francis with the winning pit strategy.
"That's what we had to do, it was our only shot at winning the race," Kahne said. "We took our time, got in the right place and Kenny made the right call of no tires at the end. I didn't think we needed them. The car was exceptional. I was just making sure I didn't make any stupid mistakes and lose the race."