Friday, August 24 Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tennessee

Kasey Kahne won the Food City 250 at Bristol.

Kahne Masters New Bristol
By Amanda Brahler, Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 24, 2007) -- With temperatures lingering just below 100 degrees all day long at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Busch Series teams hung in to put on a stellar show under the lights, ending with Kasey Kahne claiming the Food City 250 win after taking the lead from Ryan Newman with less than 10 laps remaining and holding off Jason Leffler's challenge afterwards.

"It was an awesome battle with Ryan Newman and Jason Leffler," Kahne said. "It feels great. This is always one of the tracks you want to win on. It was a battle. The track is so crazy with how many lines there are and how much racing room there is."

The first Busch Series event on Bristol's new concrete surface was a good one from start to finish with multiple racing grooves and many three-wide battles throughout the event. The most heated fell near the finish as Kahne, Newman, Leffler and David Reutimann all mixed it up with a few lapped cars peppered in.

"(I) just squeezed through," Kahne said of his race-winning pass off of Turn 2. "We were scraping Newman on one side, scraping the wall on the other side."

Newman's No. 12 Dodge cut a tire after subsequent contact with Leffler and was forced to pit. The Toyota of Leffler hung onto second but was sent spinning across the frontstretch just after taking the checkered flag because of contact from behind from Reutimann.

Kyle Busch and Scott Wimmer closed out the top five.

Busch had a strong car through the night as well, leading the way for 24 laps. Following a red flag period after an accident involving Marcos Ambrose and Robert Richardson on Lap 173, multiple cars decided to pit once the field resumed under caution laps. Busch opted to stay on the track, but NASCAR penalized Busch for a pit commitment-line violation. Rather than taking the restart from fourth; he fell back to nearly 30th.

NASCAR however, later admitted its error, but it was too late to be corrected. Replays showed Busch's car did not cross the commitment line to pit.

"If you ask anybody, we had the best car all day long," Busch said. "We were able to drive up through there in the end."

There were 11 caution flags through the event with nine lead changes among six different drivers.

After a string of sour runs, points leader Carl Edwards regrouped, finishing 11th.

Complete race results and point standings in the Event Stats section below...

Fast Wrap

• Kasey Kahne won the Food City 500, his seventh victory in 135 NASCAR Busch Series races.
• This is his first victory and just second top-10 finish in nine NASCAR Busch Series races at Bristol.
• Jason Leffler (second) posted his ninth top-10 finish in 2007 and his second in nine Bristol races.
• David Reutimann (third) posted his second top-10 finish in three Bristol races and his 10th in 2007.
• David Ragan (xx) was the highest finishing rookie.
• Carl Edwards now leads the NASCAR Busch Series point standings by 690 points over David Reuitmann.
• Jack Roush (No. 60) leads the NASCAR Busch Series Owner Championship point standings by 29 points over Richard Childress (No. 29).

Schedule/Broadcast Times

Practice: Friday, August 24 (SPEED at 11 a.m./AT, 10 a.m./ET)

Qualifying: Friday, August 24 (SPEED at 5:30 p.m/AT, 4:30 p.m./ET

Pre-Race Show: Friday, August 24 (ESPN2 & TSN-alt at 8:30 p.m./AT, 7:30 p.m./ET)

Race: Friday, August 24 (ESPN2 & TSN-alt at 9 p.m./AT, 8 p.m./ET)

Event Stats PDF files unless otherwise noted

Entry List

Starting Lineup

Race Results

Point Standings

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: Food City 250
The Place: Bristol Motor Speedway
The Date: Aug. 24, 20071
The Time: 8:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN2, 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Track Layout: .533-mile oval
Race Purse: $1,399,759
2006 Winner: Matt Kenseth
2006 Pole: Ryan Newman
Pre-Race Schedule: Thursday–Open Practice, 1–5 p.m. Friday–Practice, 9–9:50 a.m. and 10:15–11:15 a.m. Qualifying, 4:35 p.m.
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Track Map



Green Flag Notes

• Dale Jarrett (No. 44 UPS Toyota) returns to the NASCAR Busch Series at Bristol. A charter member of the series (329 starts, 11 wins – one at Bristol), he’s back for the first time since 2005 and will drive for Michael Waltrip, teaming with David Reutimann (No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota).
• Travis Kvapil goes from his Roush Fenway truck to the No. 16 3M Ford Friday night; while Johnny Sauter returns to the No. 27 Kleenex Ford (then Chevy/Pontiac) for the first time since 2004 when he ran full-time for Brewco.
• Kevin Harvick will drive his own No. 33 Chevrolet at Bristol, where he’s tied with Morgan Shepherd (No. 89 Victory in Jesus Racing Dodge) for the most series wins at the track (four) and has 10 top fives in 15 starts at the track.
• Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer (No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet – Richmond) and Jason Leffler (ORP) have claimed the first three short-track wins of the season.
• Brad Keselowski (No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet) first met JR Motorsports team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the NASCAR Busch Series race at Bristol this past March. Despite driving for an under-funded organization, Keselowski – set up in the pit stall next to the two-time series champion, who was also running in the race – posted a career-best 12th-place starting position. Keselowski apparently made quite an impression that weekend, because when Earnhardt started searching for a new driver for the No. 88 last month, he called the 23-year-old to see if the rookie driver was interested in the position. In his four starts since for JRM, Keselowski has captured one top 10 and three top 15s. He also led five laps at Gateway International Raceway, the first laps led of his series career. His average finish in the No. 88 is 15.75.
• Rusty Wallace Inc. has announced that Chase Austin, the team’s 17-year-old developmental driver, is scheduled to make his NASCAR Busch Series debut Oct. 28 at Memphis Motorsports Park. Austin’s 18th birthday is 25 days before the event. If he qualifies the No. 64 Dodge, he would become the first African-American driver to start a NASCAR Busch Series race on an oval. In 1999, Bill Lester started 21st and finished 24th at Watkins Glen. Austin will team with Steve Wallace (No. 66 HomeLife Communities Dodge), who also made his series debut at Memphis in 2005. Austin currently drives the No. 66 Dodge in the NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series where he has posted six top-15 finishes in eight starts. “The decision to enter Chase was made in preparation for next season,” team owner Rusty Wallace said. “We’re planning on Chase driving in 15 races for our new team … a development schedule in 2008 that looks like the one we ran with Steve last year (with) both limited Busch Series and ARCA schedules.”

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