Kasey Kahne held drove away from Clint Bowyer on the final restart and held of Denny Hamlin late to win the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
What It Means: The win moves Kahne from fourth to first in NASCAR's Wild Card standings. It's also his tenth Top10 in the past 13 races and his first win for new sponsor, Farmers Insurance.
Needed A Few More Miles: Denny Hamlin was looking to pick up his third win of the year and appeared to be heading to victory lane until a late pit stop where he took four tires and lost the lead. He came threw the field at a torrid pace but had to settle for second place.
More Trouble For Kyle: Kyle Busch was dominating early but found trouble once again after he was caught speeding down pit road and nearly drove through his pit box during the first round of green flag stops. He wounded up finishing 16th after leading 72 laps.
Solid Run For Lil' E: Dale Eanrhardt Jr. finished fourth but you wouldn't of been able to tell if you were listening to him on the radio. After the race he told reporters that he and the National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew team were a tenth off all weekend and that they usually run better in the September race at New Hampshire. That could mean good things for Juniors title hopes with the second race being in the chase.
The Race to The Chase
- Matt Kenseth 707 Pts.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -16
- Greg Biffle -40
- Jimmie Johnson -51
- Denny Hamlin -79
- Kevin Harvick -85
- Tony Stewart -89
- Martin Truex Jr. -90
- Clint Bowyer -93
- Brad Keselowski -94
- Kasey Kahne 2 12
- Kyle Busch 1 13
- Ryan Newman 1 14
- Joey Lagano 1 16
- Carl Edwards 0 11
TheNASCARTER's Take
Thank God, TNT's Summer Series is over and hopefully ESPN can show us more than five minutes of racing. I can't say enough about Hendrick Motor sports who had cars running 2nd through 5th most of the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to peck away at Matt Kenseth lead and now trails by 16 points. I hope everybody enjoys their off weekend.
Up Next: The Sprint Cup Series has a week off and then they head to the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400.
