Patience and a very fast race car have turned Kasey Kahne into a force in NASCAR's Nextel Cup series.
Sunday, it was obvious from the start of the 3M Performance 400 that Kahne's No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge was the car to beat. But circumstances forced Kahne to prove it the hard way.
After being forced to pit under the green flag on lap 47 when debris blocked his radiator, overheating his motor, Kahne suddenly found himself in 38th place, a lap behind the leaders.
No problem.
"We knew we had a great car and we just started battling back," Kahne said.
A caution for light rain just seven laps later allowed Kahne to regain the lead lap and it didn't take long for the 26-year-old youngster to drive back into contention.
"We took two tires there once and passed some cars on pit road and then we were able to get past some cars on the track," said Kahne, who started at the pole and got back to the front before a downpour cut the race short by 71 laps on the Michigan International Speedway.
Kahne, earning a series-best fourth victory of the season and his third from the top qualifying spot, said, "It's pretty crazy to win in the rain and be in the right place there at the end. But we did have the best car."
While Kahne was racing back into contention, Carl Edwards, who had two top-five finishes at Michigan last year in his first full season in Cup, moved to the front in his No. 99 Roush Racing Ford and appeared to be the car to beat.
On lap 112 of the race scheduled to go 200 laps, Kahne barely beat Edwards out of the pits in a battle for fourth place under a caution flag -- one of a track record-tying nine yellows.
That turned out to be the move of the race.
After the green flag waved on lap 116, Kahne, who had taken four fresh tires, quickly chased down rookie Reed Sorenson, who had taken the lead under the final caution.
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