Kahne ends Johnson's streak at Coca-Cola 600

CONCORD, N.C. -- The 42 drivers chasing Jimmie Johnson heard the plea from the fans and saw it on the T-shirts that begged for "Anybody But Jimmie" to win the Coca-Cola 600.

Kasey Kahne was the only one up for the challenge.

Kahne ended Johnson's run of three straight Coca-Cola 600 victories by taking the lead with 29 laps to go Sunday night and pulling out to such a huge lead that Johnson never had a chance to catch him.

"That's all I ever wanted here, was a car that could race with Jimmie at the end," Kahne said. "You know every time you get to the end of a race at Charlotte, Jimmie Johnson is the guy to beat.

"We finally made it to that point and had a car that could race him and we were able to win."

For the first time in six races, someone not named Johnson celebrated in Victory Lane at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"The 600 is such a big weekend, such a big race and tonight was ours," Kahne said. "Jimmie Johnson had been the winner for a long time and we were able to win tonight."

Johnson, winner of last week's All-Star Challenge and seven of the last 10 races at Lowe's, finished second. He was well over 2 seconds behind Kahne, who stopped his car at the finish line to grab the checkered flag and celebrate with his team.

"As I was chasing Kasey at the end, and I couldn't catch him ... looking at the streak and looking at the 600-mile race, to win three of them, I've been very fortunate to do that," Johnson said. "It's a weird race, a long race, and I'm very proud of the stats that I've had -- and slightly disappointed that it's come to an end."

It was Kahne's third victory of the season -- all in the same Charger -- and the first win for a Dodge at this track since Richard Petty in 1977.

Carl Edwards, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth finished third through fifth for Roush Racing, followed by Jeff Burton, then Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray in the other two Roush Fords. Denny Hamlin and Reed Sorenson rounded out the top 10, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th.

Defending series champion Tony Stewart wrecked early in the race and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. He was seen and released, and a team spokesman said he broke the tip of his right shoulder blade.

Stewart -- who slipped to fourth in the standings, 209 points behind Johnson -- also was taken to the hospital because of a bruised shoulder following a wreck Saturday night in the Busch Series race.

"He's going to be sore -- it's the same spot he hit last time," team president J.D. Gibbs said. "There isn't much you can do about it. He needs rest and needs to take care of it, ice it, wrap it up real well."

It looked as if pole-sitter Scott Riggs, Kahne's teammate, was going to make a run at his first career victory until a series of mistakes during his pit stop with 40 laps to go took him out of contention.

Riggs was the leader when he pitted, but didn't come to a clean stop, stalled his Dodge when he tried to pull away, and as his crew pushed him out the jack and fuel can left his assigned area -- drawing a stop-and-go penalty that took him out of contention. He ended up 13th, after leading eight times for 90 laps.

Riggs was 17th on the restart, with Edwards, Johnson and Kahne leading the field with 33 laps to go.

Kahne grabbed the lead moments later, his seventh time out front in NASCAR's longest race of the season. He led a race-high 158 of the 400 laps in a race that begins in the day, ends in the night and leaves most drivers mentally and physically exhausted.

"Kasey's car was pretty awesome," Edwards said. "I couldn't keep up with him when he went by us, so I'm pretty happy with third place."

Tempers flared late in the race when Casey Mears lost control of his Dodge, bounced off the wall and into Kyle Busch while the two were running second and fourth. Mears suffered slight damage, but Busch's night was ruined.

As NASCAR officials tried to coax Busch back toward the garage, he angrily tried to break free so he could get at Mears as he passed by. He only managed a feeble, left-handed toss of a safety device that failed to hit Mears.

"Just a very frustrating moment for me," Busch said. "I had a really great race car that I thought could have won the race."

Drivers had to contend with a slick new track surface, a very hard tire that made it difficult from them to get good grip, and NASCAR-mandated small fuel cells that forced them to stop for gas more times than usual.

Martin used the pre-race driver's meeting to implore the competitors to use patience on the track surface, which had a $3 million repaving job over the winter. The new surface was fast -- and slippery to drivers on cold tires -- and Goodyear tried to counter it with one of the hardest tire compounds it could create.

But just to be on the safe side, NASCAR ordered the use of a 14-gallon fuel tank to ensure drivers could not put together long runs that would cause extensive wear on the tires.

Despite all the precautions, the race was still plagued with plenty of spins and an occasional tire problem. There were 15 cautions -- down from a record 22 a year ago -- and drivers had mixed opinions on the surface and the tire.

"I can't believe this is the kind of tire we have to race on," Jeff Gordon grumbled after wrecking out to finish 36th. "Goodyear could do better than this, and we could put on a better race than this."