Kahne’s timing wins Busch race

Kasey Kahne held off Matt Kenseth, then survived a two-lap shootout Saturday to win the Sam’s Town 300 for his fourth NASCAR Busch Series victory in Las Vegas.

“It was just a great race. Matt and Kevin (Harvick) were both very good all day,” Kahne said.

Kenseth was gradually closing in on Kahne in the closing laps, when David Gilliland’s car went up in smoke with two laps to go, bringing out the caution and setting up the green-white-checker finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Kahne got a good jump on the restart and held on to edge Kenseth by 0.316 seconds, about three car lengths. Harvick finished 1.333 seconds behind the winner.

Greg Biffle, the pole sitter for today’s UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Nextel Cup race, finished fourth, followed by Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, J.J. Yeley, Clint Bowyer and Reed Sorenson.

This won’t stay in Vegas

When Elliott Sadler came to a Nextel Cup test in January, he brought four friends from high school with him to experience Las Vegas.

Sadler put them up at the Bellagio and gave them some spending money. The friends pooled $50 each and put that $200 into a $10 slot machine.

On their eighth pull, they won $100,000.

“I got a call and my best friend, John, was just hollering over the telephone that I needed to get there, right then,” said Sadler.

“All of ‘em were crying. One guy was trying to help pay off his house. One guy was trying to put his kid through school. My cousin, who just got married last week, had just been laid off from his job and didn’t have a way to pay for his honeymoon.

“I’ve been part of a lot of cool things, but that was probably the coolest moment of my life.”

Newman the fireman

Ryan Newman was having lunch with a friend in Lenoir, N.C., on Monday when the hood over a wood-fired grill caught on fire.

“The hood fire extinguisher went off, but it was too late. The grease on top of the hood going up into the rafters caught on fire,” he said. “The building was on fire.”

It appeared the extinguisher had put out the fire until Newman looked up and noticed an orange glow in the ceiling. No one else seemed to know what to do and Newman asked how to get onto the roof.

Luckily, Newman had a small tool kit he carries for fishing trips and he and his friend – a former firefighter – removed the screws holding the hood.

“It was quite an experience, but I was glad to be able to help out,” Newman said. “It was just good to be part of something that was good.”

Formula One

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher secured the pole for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain, tying Ayrton Senna’s record with his 65th No.1 start.

Kimi Raikkonen will start from the back of the grid after his McLaren Mercedes lost a wing 10 minutes into the first qualifying session. The car spun, briefly went airborne and lost its right rear wheel. He drove to the pit on three wheels.