Compliments of NASCAR, Inc

LONG POND, Pa. -June 8, 2008- Kasey Kahne never thought his start to the season was all that bad, despite how it looked on paper. In hindsight, there was something missing and it took last month's win in the All-Star race to see it.

Now Kahne is on a roll, riding a wave of momentum from that $1 million payday into a championship-contending run.

He won for second time in the last three Sprint Cup Series points races Sunday at Pocono Raceway, and counting his win in the All-Star race, Kahne has been to Victory Lane three times in the past four events.

And he knows he's got his fans to thank after they voted him into the All-Star race, giving him the push he needed to rally his way to ninth in the Sprint Cup Series standings.

"As a driver, I didn't feel like my confidence was down. But until I actually won this year, the All-Star race, I realized that I was leaving a little bit out there and wasn't communicating probably like I should have been," Kahne said. "I definitely credit the fans for getting us into the All-Star race. That gave us the momentum.

"That gave the company the excitement and the momentum that they needed, and myself, and that's when I personally feel like I started communicating better and I've done a much better job since.

Has he ever.

He followed the All-Star win with a victory the next week in the Coca-Cola 600, and although he bobbled last week with a 31st-place finish at Dover, he owned Pocono.

Kahne started from the pole, overcame an early pit road penalty that dropped him to 38th and led a race-high 69 of the 200 laps in his Dodge.

"Never. I've never had a car that dominant before," Kahne said. "This one stayed the same all day long. It was so good all day long."

Brian Vickers was second for his best finish since joining Red Bull Racing at the start of last season, and Denny Hamlin was third to give Toyota two cars in the top three.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fourth and appeared winded after racing over four hours on the hottest day so far of the NASCAR season. Temperatures hovered around 90 degrees all day, even after a brief rain shower halted action midway through the race.

"It's pretty hot," a red-faced Earnhardt said. "It's going to be a little hotter the next couple months."

Vickers concurred, sweating profusely from the podium after his finish.

"I'm exhausted, lets get this going," he said, blaming some of the issues on rising heat in NASCAR's new car. "It's brutal. We're going to the infield care center after the races and that's ridiculous. NASCAR needs to step in and ... cool these cars down to help us. It is extremely freaking hot out there."

Hamlin was pale white and clearly spent as he nodded in agreement.

"I saw Brian, and even Junior needed a second to breathe. It's just tough," Hamlin said. "We're trying as drivers to stay hydrated, but these cars are just way too hot."

Jeff Burton was fifth and was followed by Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Carl Edwards and Mark Martin rounded out the top 10. Bobby Labonte was 11th and AJ Allmendinger was 12th to give Red Bull its best all-around day since the two-car team joined NASCAR last season.

Kyle Busch became the first driver to compete in all three of NASCAR's national series at three different race tracks on the same weekend, but fell far short of winning a triple crown and finished last Sunday in the Sprint Cup race.

Busch, who wrecked his primary car in Saturday's practice session, started at the rear of the field when he had to switch to his backup Toyota and was running deep in traffic when he ran into Jamie McMurray as the battled for the same spot of race track. It sent Busch into the garage for repairs, and even though his crew rebuilt the car and got him back on the track, he wound up 43rd.

"I saw (McMurray) get high, get loose, and thought he faded back further than he did," Busch said. "We broke the mirror trying to adjust it there before the race and couldn't see anything out my right rear quarter panel. So I couldn't clear myself. The spotter didn't say anything, so I apologize to McMurray for wrecking their day."

Busch was second in Friday night's Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, and was a distant 20th in the Nationwide Series race at Nashville on Saturday night.

But even worse, his cozy lead in the Sprint Cup Series standings was gobbled up as Busch lost 121 points of his lead. Burton now trails him by just 21 points.

"We just had a bad weekend in Pocono, that's all we can really say," crew chief Steve Addington said. "We've had a great year. You can't sit here and dwell on one weekend."

Official Race Results
Pocono 500
June 08, 2008
Race 14 of 36

FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS WINNINGS
1 1 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 195/10 200 Running 260,866
2 15 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 175/5 200 Running 144,425
3 16 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Ground 170/5 200 Running 162,866
4 7 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard / AMP Energy 160/0 200 Running 121,200
5 20 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 155/0 200 Running 143,258
6 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 155/5 200 Running 147,586
7 13 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 151/5 200 Running 130,866
8 11 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 142/0 200 Running 87,175
9 6 99 Carl Edwards Ford Aflac 143/5 200 Running 123,700
10 3 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet Steak-umm Burgers 134/0 200 Running 114,083
11 37 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 130/0 200 Running 121,536
12 8 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 127/0 200 Running 75,200
13 28 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 124/0 200 Running 118,061
14 38 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 121/0 200 Running 117,711
15 33 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 123/5 200 Running 81,175
16 42 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditRep
ort.com 115/0 200 Running 89,583
17 25 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 117/5 200 Running 101,808
18 27 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Kodak 109/0 200 Running 109,350
19 36 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 106/0 200 Running 70,225
20 22 26 Jamie McMurray Ford IRWIN Industrial Tools 103/0 200 Running 80,250
21 9 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet State Water Heaters 105/5 200 Running 85,708
22 32 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 102/5 200 Running 83,408
23 23 28 Travis Kvapil Ford DISH Network / DishDVRs 94/0 200 Running 97,064
24 30 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance 91/0 200 Running 76,675
25 17 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet Pittsburgh Paints / Menards 88/0 200 Running 76,450
26 34 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Kellogg's / CARQUEST 85/0 200 Running 83,800
27 39 00 Michael McDowell * Toyota Champion Mortgage 82/0 200 Running 80,808
28 4 01 Regan Smith * Chevrolet DEI / Principal Financial Group 79/0 200 Running 73,000
29 5 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row
/ DenverMattress.com 76/0 200 Running 64,850
30 43 45 Terry Labonte Dodge Paralyzed Veterans of America 73/0 200 Running 74,747
31 29 21 Bill Elliott Ford U.S. Air Force 70/0 200 Running 82,895
32 24 10 Patrick Carpentier * Dodge Charter Comm. 67/0 200 Running 64,375
33 31 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 64/0 200 Running 92,339
34 18 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Stanley Tools 66/5 200 Running 90,320
35 12 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 63/5 199 Running 112,561
36 40 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Robby Gordon Motorsports 55/0 199 Running 71,600
37 19 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 52/0 199 Running 63,425
38 21 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 49/0 157 Accident 91,208
39 35 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 46/0 155 Running 81,175
40 26 70 Jason Leffler Chevrolet Haas Automation 43/0 140 Accident 63,025
41 14 40 Dario Franchitti * Dodge Target 40/0 137 Accident 70,880
42 41 77 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge Mobil 1 37/0 130 Accident 108,305
43 10 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's 34/0 95 Accident 80,999

* Denotes Rookie

RACE FACTS
Average Speed: 125.209 mph
Margin of Victory: 3.702
Time of Race: 03:59:36
Lead Changes: 23
Cautions: 28-31, 41-43, 48-50, 58-62, 69-73, 82-86, 106-108, 123-125, 131-133, 178-181


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