Pocono gets Kahne'd

Kasey Kahne wins his 3rd race out of the last 4 starts (including All-Star Race), as bad luck hits Tony Stewart and points leader Kyle Busch. Busch now leads by only 21 points as contact with Jamie McMurray ends his day with a 43rd place finish. Busch was trying to clear McMurray and had a mis-cue with his spotter, as Busch went to go high, he was not clear of the #26 and hit the wall with the front of his car.

Kahne and Kyle Busch have combined to win the last five races. Busch won at Darlington, Kahne in the all-star race and the 600 and then Kyle at Dover and now Kahne at Pocono. Busch nearly won at Richmond, finishing second, which came a week after his Talladega win. So, if Kyle had won at Richmond, this streak would be even longer. This matches a streak of wins by two drivers from last year when Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch combined to be the only winners in a five-race stretch last summer from Chicago to Michigan.

Stewart once again gets bit by pit road, with 28 laps to go NASCAR deemed Tony too fast exiting pit road which put him 1 lap down after getting a pass-through penalty. Stewart finished 35th. Stewart falls to 12th in the points the last transfer spot for the Chase. He leads 13th-place David Ragan by seven points, 14th-place Ryan Newman by 10 points and 15th-place Matt Kenseth by 38 points.

His season of bad luck started at the Daytona 500 as he lost the lead a mile from the finish of the Daytona 500 and placed third.

He crashed at Las Vegas, finishing last and bruising his foot. Hits wall after blowing right front tire.

Two laps from the finish at Bristol, Harvick and Stewart race for second. Harvick goes under Stewart, wiggles and hits Stewart, sending him spinning. Stewart finishes 14th.

Leads a race-high 61 laps at Talladega but is involved in late-race crash and finishes 38th.

Elliott Sadler crashes into Stewart on lap 2 at Darlington. Stewart, who started fourth, finishes 21st

Stewart has a right front tire go flat while leading with three laps to go in the Coca-Cola 600. He finishes 18th.

Sadler spins in front of Stewart, who has nowhere to go, on lap 18 at Dover. Stewart crashes into Sadler. Stewart finishes 41st.

Then on the other side of lady luck there is Kasey Kahne, and the upswing improvement of his team.

"We've been running good all year,'' team director Kenny Francis, noting problems at Texas, Phoenix and Talladega that kept the team out of the 20 in those races. "I've felt like and the whole company has been on a ... we're going to take this slow and steady and build it back up from where we were at and that's what we've done. We've still got a long way to go. We keep learning every week and trying to get better.

Results:

1. Kasey Kahne ... has pit road problems, comes back and gets win #9

2. Brian Vickers ... been drinking his Red Bull!

3. Denny Hamlin ... Great rebound after Dover mess, climbs 4 spots to 5th in points.

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ... records 10th top-10 this season, tying Kyle Busch for series best.

5. Jeff Burton ... huge boast in points, old guys still can get it done, 21 behind Busch

6. Jimmie Johnson ... was having his own race, and tried some off sequence pit stops

7. Matt Kenseth ... has finished 7th, 4th, 7th, and 6th in last 4 points races.

8. Kurt Busch ... recovers from early spin, and is the "Fastest Busch today"

9. Carl Edwards ... flat left rear forces extra pit stop late and goes from 33rd to 9th.

10. Mark Martin ... not bad for a retired guy, says he will win Indy next month

11. Bobby Labonte ... solid run all day, just short of a top 10

12. AJ Allmendinger ... earns career-best finish.

13. Kevin Harvick ... effort keeps him 10th in points.

14. Jeff Gordon ... worst finish since placing 19th at Talladega in late April

15. Greg Biffle ... SPEEDER!!! victim of pit road speeding penalty late in the race