Kahne Snaps Winless Streak with Wild Brickyard Win

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kasey Kahne won his first race of the season in the Brickyard 400 on Sunday afternoon from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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The race was red-flagged for over two hours early in the race due to rain, and then again on two separate occasions over the final 10 laps for accidents.  Kahne had to hold off Brad Keselowski over the final two restarts, with Kahne taking the lead on the final restart.

Kahne said he knew he came close to handing the victory to Keselowski.

“The [restart] before just didn’t work, everything went wrong,” Kahne said.  “On the final one, everything went right.”

“Once I got to Turn 1, I got good power and was able to clear [Keselowski] off 1.”

After being dropped by numerous sponsors, Kahne has been rumored to be on his way out at Hendrick Motorsports at the end of this season.  Kahne snapped a 102-race winless streak on Sunday, and said he was glad his team’s hard work finally paid off.

“It just feels good to win,” Kahne said.  “For all these people that work so hard, it feels good to get them to victory lane.  Shows what we can do when things go our way.”

“With the history here…to win at Indy is unbelievable.”

Keselowski finished second after restarting first on the final restart.  He said he was surprised Kahne was able to hold the lead on the bottom of the track on the final restart.

“I thought we were in the right spot, I’d seen it all day,” Keselowski said.  “You’d get someone on your outside in the corner and they’d get real loose, but he drove in there and he just stuck.”

“Felt we had the car today; everyone was just on edge there and then some.  I guess I just guessed wrong on that last one.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kasey Kahne

2. Brad Keselowski

3. Ryan Newman

4. Joey Logano

5. Matt Kenseth

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Daniel Suarez

8. Matt DiBenedetto

9. Chris Buescher

10. AJ Allmendinger

11. Danica Patrick

12. Cole Whitt

13. Aric Almirola

14. Timmy Hill

15. Jamie McMurray

16. Paul Menard

17. Denny Hamlin

18. Michael McDowell

19. Ty Dillon

20. Trevor Bayne

21. Austin Dillon

22. Landon Cassill

23. Ryan Blaney

24. Gray Gaulding

25. Joey Gase

26. Jeffrey Earnhardt

27. Jimmie Johnson

28. Kyle Larson

29. Kurt Busch

30. Clint Bowyer

31. Erik Jones

32. BJ McLeod

33. Martin Truex Jr.

34. Kyle Busch

35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

36. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

37. JJ Yeley

38. David Ragan

39. Chase Elliott

40. Corey LaJoie

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