Kasey Kahne

As the laps wound down in Saturday night's Chevy Rock & Roll 400, Kyle Busch looked like a lock to pick up his fourth career Nextel Cup victory. Then Kevin Harvick stole the show - and the win - by willing his No. 29 Chevrolet to the front with less than two miles to go. But that wasn't the biggest shock of the night at Richmond International Raceway. When the race to determine the Chase for the Nextel Cup participants had ended, so had Tony Stewart's bid to repeat as champion.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Fla. When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. TV/Radio: TNT/WNPV (1440-AM), WDSD (94.7-FM) Race course: 2.5-mile oval Race distance: 160 laps/400 miles Race forecast: Showers, 80 degrees Last year's winner: Kevin Harvick Last year's pole winner: none, qualifying rained out; starting field determined by points Track qualifying record: With restrictor plates, Ken Schrader, 196.996 mph (February 1989)

Elliott Sadler went 14 years without a victory in the Nationwide Series. Now, he has two in the last three weeks. Sadler picked up his second victory of the season Saturday when his crew chief left him out on the track on old tires during the final caution at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. The call put Sadler in the lead on the final restart, with 28 laps remaining, and he easily held off Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski. All four Nationwide races this season have been won by drivers who don't compete in the elite Sprint Cup Series.

LAS VEGAS - Defending Nationwide champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the final 54 laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday for his first victory of the season. Stenhouse had a strong car all day and dominated the end of the 200-mile race, pulling away from Mark Martin on a pair restarts on the 1.5-mile tri-oval in the desert. Martin, who had won four of his previous six Nationwide starts at Las Vegas, finished second in his first Nationwide race for Joe Gibbs Racing. Polesitter Elliott Sadler rallied to finish third after a lengthy midrace pit stop to fix a vibration.

  MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Kasey Kahne won his second Sprint Cup pole of the season. He's hoping his first top 10 finish of the season will come with it. "It was a really solid lap. We didn't have the most speed [in practice], but we had good balance in the car," said Kahne, who posted a lap of 97.128 mph Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. "It's a tough track to qualify and a tough track to race. Hopefully, we can have a good day on Sunday. " Kevin Harvick, last year's winner of this race, qualified second.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The sun shined brightly on Denny Hamlin at Kansas Speedway. At the most opportune of times, too. Hamlin's car hooked up after the final pit stop Sunday, just as the sun finally broke through on an overcast afternoon, and he powered by Martin Truex Jr. for the lead. Hamlin then managed to hold off a late charge by Truex to win for the second time this season. "Whether it was coincidence or not," Hamlin said, "our car definitely felt better when the sun came out. I felt the car lost a lot of grip, but I guess a lot of guys did. " It was Hamlin's first career win at Kansas, and gave his Joe Gibbs Racing team some momentum heading to Richmond, where the Virginia driver has won twice in 12 career starts.

Racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday is guaranteed to lift Kasey Kahne's spirits. Last year, Atlanta was the first of his series-leading six victories. Kahne really needs a win early this year. He is 36th in points. Thirty-sixth! Following a seventh-place finish in the Daytona 500, Kahne qualified second at California and led the first 20 laps, but finished 38th. Sunday at Las Vegas, he qualified fastest and led 13 laps, but wound up 35th. "[Atlanta] is one of my favorite tracks, if not my favorite racetrack," Kahne said on a Tuesday conference call.

HAMPTON, Ga. - Atlanta Motor Speedway's slippery track made an impression Saturday during qualifying for Sunday night's Sprint Cup race. Kasey Kahne won the pole but made his 29.775 seconds around the track sound like a survival test. Kahne said that his car "got away from me a little bit" and that he had to make an unexpected tap on his brakes coming out of a turn. "It was definitely not a perfect lap, but it was a little better than what everyone else did," Kahne said.

Kurt Busch, the hottest driver in NASCAR's Nextel Cup series over the last two months, won the pole for the Sharp Aquos 500 at California Speedway in Fontana, his first pole since October 2006 in Martinsville, Va. Busch, the first driver to win a title under the Chase format in 2004, goes into tomorrow's race with a solid 157-point lead over 13th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. Busch turned a fast lap of 182.399 m.p.h. on the two-mile oval to barely beat reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, at 182.394.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The sun shined brightly on Denny Hamlin at Kansas Speedway. At the most opportune of times, too. Hamlin's car hooked up after the final pit stop Sunday, just as the sun finally broke through on an overcast afternoon, and he powered by Martin Truex Jr. for the lead. Hamlin then managed to hold off a late charge by Truex to win for the second time this season. "Whether it was coincidence or not," Hamlin said, "our car definitely felt better when the sun came out. I felt the car lost a lot of grip, but I guess a lot of guys did. " It was Hamlin's first career win at Kansas, and gave his Joe Gibbs Racing team some momentum heading to Richmond, where the Virginia driver has won twice in 12 career starts.

  MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Kasey Kahne won his second Sprint Cup pole of the season. He's hoping his first top 10 finish of the season will come with it. "It was a really solid lap. We didn't have the most speed [in practice], but we had good balance in the car," said Kahne, who posted a lap of 97.128 mph Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. "It's a tough track to qualify and a tough track to race. Hopefully, we can have a good day on Sunday. " Kevin Harvick, last year's winner of this race, qualified second.

Elliott Sadler went 14 years without a victory in the Nationwide Series. Now, he has two in the last three weeks. Sadler picked up his second victory of the season Saturday when his crew chief left him out on the track on old tires during the final caution at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. The call put Sadler in the lead on the final restart, with 28 laps remaining, and he easily held off Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski. All four Nationwide races this season have been won by drivers who don't compete in the elite Sprint Cup Series.

LAS VEGAS - Defending Nationwide champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the final 54 laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday for his first victory of the season. Stenhouse had a strong car all day and dominated the end of the 200-mile race, pulling away from Mark Martin on a pair restarts on the 1.5-mile tri-oval in the desert. Martin, who had won four of his previous six Nationwide starts at Las Vegas, finished second in his first Nationwide race for Joe Gibbs Racing. Polesitter Elliott Sadler rallied to finish third after a lengthy midrace pit stop to fix a vibration.

NASCAR DRIVER Kasey Kahne has apologized for comments he made on his Twitter account about public breastfeeding. According to multiple media reports, Kahne posted messages on his account that he saw a mother breastfeeding a child in a supermarket, calling it "nasty" and saying he didn't "feel like shopping any more or eating. " Reports say Kahne then sent a crude reply message to a Twitter user who took issue with his comments. After apparently deleting the offending posts from his Twitter feed, Kahne posted an apology on his Facebook page Wednesday, saying it wasn't his intention "to offend any mother who chooses to breastfeed her child, or, for that matter, anyone who supports breastfeeding children.

HAMPTON, Ga. - Atlanta Motor Speedway's slippery track made an impression Saturday during qualifying for Sunday night's Sprint Cup race. Kasey Kahne won the pole but made his 29.775 seconds around the track sound like a survival test. Kahne said that his car "got away from me a little bit" and that he had to make an unexpected tap on his brakes coming out of a turn. "It was definitely not a perfect lap, but it was a little better than what everyone else did," Kahne said.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Fla. When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. TV/Radio: TNT/WNPV (1440-AM), WDSD (94.7-FM) Race course: 2.5-mile oval Race distance: 160 laps/400 miles Race forecast: Showers, 80 degrees Last year's winner: Kevin Harvick Last year's pole winner: none, qualifying rained out; starting field determined by points Track qualifying record: With restrictor plates, Ken Schrader, 196.996 mph (February 1989)

Kasey Kahne gave himself a huge boost in the Chase for the Championship by winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup race last night at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. Kahne came into the Pep Boys Auto 500 clinging to the 11th spot in the Sprint Cup standings. The 12-driver playoff field will be set in Richmond, Va., next weekend, and Kahne moved up to sixth with his 11th career victory and second of the year. Kevin Harvick, who won the Nationwide race Saturday night, was in position for a weekend double until teammate Clint Bowyer spun out with 15 laps to go, bringing out the final caution of the night.

A long afternoon at Pocono Raceway was worth it for Kasey Kahne. Kahne, the pole-sitter, won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Pocono race yesterday by leading the last 16 laps. Driving the bright red No. 9 Dodge, Kahne finished 4.068 seconds ahead of Brian Vickers. And Kahne also beat Jimmie Johnson, the sixth-place finisher, for most laps led, 69-59. The last driver to win from the pole at Pocono was Denny Hamlin, who did it twice 2 years ago. Hamlin finished third yesterday in a Toyota.