All-Star upset raises Kahne

CONCORD - Kasey Kahne, the popular choice to compete in the Sprint All-Star Race, actually won it.

When Greg Biffle's Ford, which had dominated the previous segment of the exhibition event, pulled up behind Kahne, few thought it would be long before he passed him. Biffle, however, couldn't get past and eventually radioed his crew that one of the wheels on his No. 16 Ford was loose.

Since Kahne hasn't won a race since Oct. 14, 2006 - yes, it was also at Lowe's Motor Speedway - he wouldn't have been in the race at all had he not been voted in by fans. Kahne had finished only 13th in a 24-car field during the preliminary race, the Sprint Showdown.

"The car was mediocre in the Showdown," said Kahne. "The fans got me in here, and they did as much as the guys on the crew who worked so hard.

"I passed all those cars, one by one, pretty slow. We took our time, and I had to make sure I didn't make any stupid mistakes."

A surprise? One of epic proportions. A good race? Hardly. The four-segment, 100-lap, 150-mile extravaganza had twists and turns, none of them dramatic. There wasn't even a decent crash to draw attention. Had the format not been so contrived, there likely wouldn't have been much to talk about at all

"I couldn't believe we won," said Kahne. "For most of the race, we were nothing special. We were quicker the longer the runs went."

For the third time in 24 races, the all-star race - once The Winston, at one point The Winston Select, for the previous four years the Nextel All-Star Challenge - went to a driver who had to get there by unorthodox means. Michael Waltrip (1996) and Ryan Newman (2002) had both advanced into the feature by finishing first or second in the preliminary race.

Surprising no one, Kyle Busch immediately ran away from the field at the start, grabbing a two-second lead in five laps. Similarly unsurprising was the fate of Sam Hornish Jr., who, after earning a berth by finishing second in the preliminary race, rimmed the wall almost immediately. Incredibly, after twice taking advantage of free passes, Hornish ended up finishing seventh on the lead lap.

Dale Jarrett's final race began less than auspiciously, and things never got better. His Toyota trailed Busch's by 12.206 seconds after eight laps and finished 21st in a field of 24.

At the end of 11 laps, Busch led second-place Greg Biffle by, oh, maybe 50 car lengths, and Biffle led Kurt Busch in third by about the same margin.

The popular view of the first 25-lap segment was the shakedown theory: It was boring, almost unspeakably so, because everyone was tinkering with their cars. Everyone except Busch and, to a lesser extent, Biffle, that is. Another way to describe it was that there was an utter absence of close competition.

Good news and bad news: Yes, there were three more segments, but no, nothing changed when the second started. Carl Edwards' Ford did move up, though, creating some hope of competition. Edwards took second place as he was crossing the line at the end of lap 27, two into the second segment. By the time Edwards got clear of the rest of the field, though, Busch was 30-40 lengths clear of his Ford. Earnhardt Jr. grabbed third place on lap 31.

Incredibly, though, word arrived - from those monitoring radio communications - that one of the eight cylinders in Busch's power plant wasn't operating. Unsurprisingly, Edwards closed in quickly and roared by to take the lead at lap 39. Busch was hopeful that the problem was curable. Even down a cylinder, Busch didn't relinquish second until the 42nd lap, when Earnhardt slipped by.

Edwards kept pounding the advantage, though, and led Earnhardt by 3.590 seconds at the 50-lap halfway point. The 10-minute break was almost certainly welcomed by every team other than the one servicing Edwards' No. 99.

Word arrived during the break that the engine problems in Busch's Toyota were terminal. When it was pushed into the garage, pandemonium broke out.

Meanwhile, when the racing resumed, Earnhardt almost immediately took the lead away from Edwards, who also surrendered second place to his Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth, who tracked down Earnhardt and took the lead on lap 60.

Meanwhile, a surging Biffle replaced a slumping Edwards in third place, and the teammates harried Earnhardt at the point. Eventually it was Biffle who slipped past on the 65th lap.

Biffle roared away, meaning that, three quarters through, none of the segments had ended with the slightest bit of drama or tight competition. Different drivers led, but it didn't take any of them long to pull impossibly away. Earnhardt had his hands full with Kenseth as Biffle roared away to a 4.217-second edge at the 75-lap mark.

A pit stop was mandatory during the final break, but tires and gas weren't, so Jimmie Johnson took the lead without provisions. The wisdom of this decision expired in less than a lap when Denny Hamlin's Toyota surged to the front. Johnson retook the lead two laps later, but the real news was the thunder coming through the field. Johnson finally fell back, leaving Hamlin and Kahne to battle. Meanwhile, Biffle was third and closing. When Hamlin's Toyota faltered, apparently due to engine trouble, it left Kahne at the front, where he remained.