All of the fans that packed the grandstands and infield of the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the inaugural Labor Day night race definitely got their money’s worth Sunday night. In one of the best races in recent memory at Atlanta, Kasey Kahne was able to best Kevin Harvick on the final restart of the race to score his second win of the year. Entering the weekend eleventh in the standings, Kahne was able to step up when it mattered most to score the win and move himself closer to a Chase berth.

On a night in which there were thirty-one lead changes amongst thirteen different drivers, the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series put on one heck of a show. Throughout the entire event the front runners came and went as the tires wore out and the laps clicked away. With fuel mileage out of the equation and tires wearing away, the leaders prepared for a long run to the finish. That all changed when Clint Bowyer spun off Turn Four to bring out the tenth caution of the night and the leaders to pit road. With fresh Goodyear rubber, the field doubled up with Harvick in the lead on the outside with Kahne to his left. Taking the restart with eleven laps to go, Kahne took off and drove away to the win.

“We did it and we did it right there at the end,” Kahne said after getting a shower of Budweiser in Victory Lane. “We had an unbelievable car throughout the race just I think Harvick was the best on the long run and we got that restart with eleven to go and I knew we had a shot. The pit crew did a phenomenal job all night. The entire Budweiser Dodge team did great.”

Celebrating with a burnout at the start/finish line, Kahne emerged from his car with a raised fist in the air as the light bulbs flashed. Climbing back in his winning ride, Kahne drove to the Turn 3 grandstands and smoked the tires up for the fans over there.

“To see a crowd like this at Atlanta, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that. It’s pretty awesome to see the sport on Labor Day and this crowd,” Kahne went on to say smiling in Victory Lane. “Putting on a great show, the Chase has been great and the fans have been awesome. This team, man, they did a great job.”

Restarting with Harvick to his outside and David Reutimann behind him, the No. 00 gave the Budweiser Dodge a great push through Turns 1 and 2 that propelled Kahne to the lead and to Victory Lane.

“I knew Harvick and Montoya were going to be tough there at the end, but we just got them there,” Sunday’s winning driver explained. “We had a little better car for about ten laps.”

The victory jumped Kahne up five spots in the standings to sixth with just one race remaining before the 12-man Chase field is set following next Saturday night’s race in Richmond.

One of the most consistent cars at the front of the field all night was Saturday night’s Nationwide Series winner Kevin Harvick. Great on the long runs, his strongest attribute throughout the entire race was what ended up hurting the driver of the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet.

“I knew we were in trouble there at the end because it took our car fifteen or twenty laps to get going, but hey, it’s a long way from where we’ve been,” Harvick said after his best finish of 2009. “We were able to lead a bunch of laps tonight, something we haven’t been able to do in a while. I’m happy, obviously you want to win, but from where we’ve been this year I think this feels like a win. We’ll just take this momentum and hopefully keep it going."

 “My car was good halfway through the run to the end of the runs,” Harvick said of his No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet. “I would give up five, six, seven spots at the beginning of the run.  That didn't pay off for us in the end.  Like I say, it was a good night.  That was the thing that we tuned our car to, was to be consistent and good to drive lap after.  Didn't have a lot of speed at the beginning of the runs, but it was consistent.  I can manage it all night.”

Coming off a 19th-place run at Michigan and a 25th-place finish at Bristol, Juan Pablo Montoya went into Atlanta ninth in the standings with only a thirty-point buffer over twelfth. Racing at the track he scored his first top-10 finish at, the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet was set on having a clean run and climbing up the standings.

“Two races with flat tires, we come here, lost a bunch of points, it's always kind of worrying,” Montoya admitted following his second top-5 of the year.

One of the strongest cars throughout the 325-lap event, Montoya and his Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing team worked throughout the entire race adjusting on the car to make it better as the tires wore away. With such a strong car, Montoya had no concerns about his chances at scoring the win, but was worried another bout of bad luck would ruin his night.

“Every restart you go, ‘Please, nobody slide into me,’ things like that,” he explained. “It was nice to see that Kasey and Kevin and myself were the three fastest cars by a mile.  Once you got in line, after the first corner, you knew you were fine. I thought I had a shot. That 9 car in the last run was incredibly fast.”

David Reutimann was able to turn the wick up late in the going as he picked off cars one by one on his way to the front. The driver of the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota lined up behind Kahne on the final restart of the evening in third. Looking to continue his charge to the lead, Reutimann gave Kahne the push he needed to get out front. With Kahne and Harvick battling for the top-spot, Montoya was able to use the high line to drive past the No. 00. Holding on to fourth, Reutimann scored his fifth top-5 of the year and moved up one spot in the standings to fifteenth. While he will not be contending for this year’s Chase, Reutimann will be one of the toughest competitors fighting to be the driver that finishes thirteenth at the season’s end.

“You never know,” Reutimann said of his chances on that final restart. “It took us a little while to get going. I think Kasey spun the tires a little bit and I didn’t want to run into him and let the 11 (Denny Hamlin) get by us. By the time we got back to the 11, those guys kind of got away from us a little bit. All in all, for where we started and the way we have run here in the past, I’m really proud of my guys."

Holding on to fourth, Reutimann scored his fifth top-5 of the year and moved up one spot in the standings to fifteenth. While he will not be contending for this year’s Chase, Reutimann will be one of the toughest competitors fighting to be the driver that finishes thirteenth at the season’s end.

Mark Martin did what he needed to do this weekend and produced a solid top-5 finish. Coming into the weekend just twenty-six points ahead of twelfth, Martin was able to bring the No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet home in the fifth-spot. Racing hard in the closing laps, the veteran driver was able to move past former teammate Kenseth for sixth and then passed Denny Hamlin for fifth with just six laps to go. The finish gave Martin a forty-nine point advantage over Kenseth heading to Richmond, nothing to breathe easy about.

"It was a great effort by the team,” Martin said. “They did a great job. The car was fair. It was a real struggle and we worked on it. We got it better for the second half of the race and it was a top-five car; not a winner. But we fought for everything that we got right there."

Next week the 26-race regular season will come to an end and the 12-driver Chase field will be determined. Nine of the top-fourteen positions in the Race to the Chase changed hands following Sunday night’s race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Looking forward to four hundred laps around the 0.75-mile short track the action will be intense and with the points as tight as they are anything can happen. Who will make it in the Chase to contend for the title and who will be left out? Ten drivers and teams will be fighting for eight spots, while those outside the Chase will be looking to steal the show.

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