Kasey Kahne scores dramatic victory at Atlanta to make Chase

Kasey Kahne is used to needing a win or a strong run at the end of the regular season just to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

But this year, under NASCAR's new Chase system, the pressure was more intense than ever. With just two more chances to win to get in, Kahne rose to the occasion Sunday night, producing a dramatic victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway to make NASCAR's playoff Chase.

'I hate that it comes down to this, to Atlanta or Richmond just about every year for me, and sometimes we're in and sometimes we're out,' he said. 'I'm thankful at (Hendrick Motorsports) we've been in all three years now, but we have the pressure all the way to Richmond. But we made it again.'

MORE: Stewart crashes in return | Glad he's back | Results | Harvick almost hits squirrel

Kahne had to battle another driver without a win this season to score the victory. He and Matt Kenseth went door-to-door on a second green-white-checkered restart and Kahne charged past Kenseth for one of the biggest victories of his career. The win put all four Hendrick drivers in the Chase.

Kenseth finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards. Danica Patrick finished a career-high sixth in a wild race that featured plenty of fireworks at the end.

Kahne held the lead over Kevin Harvick when Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. got together and wrecked, bringing out a caution flag with two laps to go. With new tires a big advantage, the leaders all pitted, and Kenseth, Paul Menard and Hamlin all beat Harvick and Kahne off pit road.

Kenseth and Menard, who both took just two tires, held the lead on the first green-white-checkered restart, but Menard got off to a slow start and Harvick slammed into the back of him. Menard then squeezed Harvick and Joey Logano into the wall, bringing out another caution flag.

Kenseth held the lead over Hamlin, Kahne and Johnson on the final restart, but Kahne charged to the inside of Hamlin and then drove to the outside of Kenseth to challenge for the lead. The two drivers battled door-to-door until Kahne took the lead at the white flag and held on for his first win of the season.

Kahne became the 13th different winner this season to qualify for the Chase, but Kenseth also clinched a Chase spot on points. That leaves just two spots open in the 16-driver Chase with one race remaining in the regular season. Ryan Newman, who is ninth in points, currently holds the 15th spot in the Chase standings, while Greg Biffle is 16th. Clint Bowyer, who suffered a broken shifter in his car and finished 38th at Atlanta, is now 23 points behind Biffle in the battle for the final spot. Rookie Kyle Larson is 24 points back.

Kahne trailed all of them entering the 25th race of the season, but grabbed a Chase spot with the 17th win of his career.

'We have had kind of a downer year at times and then we started running good,' said Kahne, who was congratulated by his three Hendrick teammates in victory lane. 'Last week at Bristol we were really fast and we had a problem. It's kinda been one thing after another, but we're in the Chase with my teammates.'

No one was more disappointed than Harvick, who led 195 of 335 laps but lost the lead on pit road each time he pitted. He held the lead when the leaders pitted on Lap 299, but came off pit road second behind Hamlin and just ahead of Kahne. On his final pit stop, Harvick came out fourth behind Kenseth, Menard and Hamlin, setting up the wreck that ended his chances.

'Obvioiulsy the 27 (Menard) and 20 (Kenseth) had two tires and you knew they were going to get a bad restart and I got on the outside of the 27 as soon as I could and the 22 (Joey Logano) was on the outside of me and the 27 just kept coming up until we all wrecked,' Harvick said. 'Nobody was letting out of the gas at that point. Just the nature of the beast, I guess.'

Harvick, who has two early-season wins, has been fast all season but has seen several potential victories slip away with problems on pit road.

'We have some things we need to work on,' he said. 'Our cars are really fast and doing all the things we need to do, but we lost control every time we came to pit road tonight. I thought we had that a little bit better, but we just got absolutely murdered every time we came to pit road. We've known that all year and we need to fix it.'

Restarts were the key for Kahne. He passed Harvick and Hamlin for the lead with 24 laps to go, and then blew past Hamlin and Kenseth on the final restart.

'Those restarts, I thought ... I didn't know what would happen,' Kahne said. 'I had great restarts all night and I struggled with restarts a lot (this year), so that was big. That's one of the things you have to be good at, and it worked really well tonight.'

Kenseth, who won seven races last year but has not won this season, pulled away on the first green-white-checkered restart, but could not hold off Kahne on the last one.

'I had a really good restart the first time and I was kinda hoping we would go green from there because Paul was in there and the 5 and the 4 were stuck on the top, but that didn't work out,' Kenseth said. 'The second one was OK, it wasn't as good.

'I just spun the left-rear a little bit and the 5 (Kahne) got up the middle there. I was able to get through 1 and 2 wide open and almost wide open (through 3 and 4). I had him cleared, he just somehow got enough momentum to somehow get back up beside me. We did all we could.'

Tony Stewart's night ended early in his return to racing three weeks after his involvement in the death of 20-year-old driver Kevin Ward Jr. on Aug. 9. Stewart, whose sprint car struck and killed Ward, qualified 12th and raced his way into the top five early. He ran in the top 10 during the first 100 laps until contact with Kyle Busch sent him into the wall.

Stewart stayed in the race after repairs, but got lapped on Lap 161, and then blew a tire and crashed on Lap 172.

'Sorry, guys. You deserved better,' Stewart told his crew.

Harvick led the first 80 laps and swapped the lead with Hamlin and Kenseth during the first half of the race. The most dramatic moment early in the race came when a squirrel ran across the track in front of Harvick, who thought it was a cat.

'I almost hit a cat. A cat just ran right in front of me,' Harvick told his crew.

The squirrel, was scurrying around in Turns 3 and 4 for a while.

Points leader Jeff Gordon was fast early in the race, but blew a tire and crashed on Lap 78. He stayed in the race and rallied to finish 17th. He carries a 21-point lead over teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the final race of the regular season.

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