Kahne takes All-Star gamble

Kasey Kahne technically wasn’t eligible to run the All-Star race. He didn’t let that stop him from stealing the $1 million prize.

Kahne earned his berth in Saturday night’s show in Concord, N.C., not through his accomplishments on the track, but in a popularity contest that permitted one driver voted on by the fans to compete in the main event.

It gave Kahne a chance to run in the 100-lap shootout, which was intermittently dominated by Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With a gamble on the final pit stop, Kahne put the field in his rearview mirror to become the first driver voted in by the fans to win, and just the third driver in All-Star history to advance from the preliminary race and claim the final trophy at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

“I thank them so much. I can’t believe it. The car was mediocre in the open and the fans voted me in,” said Kahne, who finished fifth in the Sprint Showdown.

Kahne didn’t take tires to advance his position and restart in second when the final 25-lap segment began. Biffle, who had led the final 11 laps of the third segment, took two tires and was mired back in traffic on the restart.

Biffle never got a chance to run down Kahne, who slid past leader Jimmie Johnson to lead the final 17 laps and claim the victory and credit crew chief Kenny Francis with the winning pit strategy.

“We took our time, got in the right place and Kenny made the right call of no tires at the end,” Kahne said. “I didn’t think we needed them. The car was exceptional. I was just making sure I didn’t make any stupid mistakes and lose the race.”

Biffle finished second and was surprised his two-tire stop lost him the race.

“We put two tires on, he said he didn’t change anything. We’ll have to see if (Kahne’s) got a little mouse in the bag,” Biffle said. “In the end, I thought it was going to be just easy, a Saturday night drive. It’s kind of crazy to think if I had just stayed out … I would have won. But I thought two tires was the call.”

Matt Kenseth was third and Johnson and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.

Ryan Newman, who in 2002 was the last driver to advance from the preliminary race to win the main event, finished sixth. He was followed by teammate Sam Hornish Jr., who finished second in the Sprint Showdown to make the race.

Allmendinger gets win

AJ Allmendinger won for the first time in his NASCAR career, winning the Sprint Showdown in Concord to earn a berth in the All-Star race.

Sam Hornish Jr. finished second to also advance into the $1 million main event.

For Allmendinger and Hornish, it was their best showing yet in their short NASCAR careers. Granted, it came in a 40-lap sprint absent of NASCAR’s biggest stars. They were already qualified for the All-Star race and sat out the preliminary, which was for drivers not already in the show.

Rahal makes Indy field

For Graham Rahal, driving in the Indianapolis 500 has been an almost lifelong ambition.

The son of 1986 Indy winner and IRL IndyCar Series team owner Bobby Rahal has been coming to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since he was a small child, and he has visualized himself in a car on the famed 2 1/2-mile oval many, many times.

If finally happened this year, thanks to the unification of the two American open-wheel series, and the 19-year-old Rahal has taken full advantage.

He was among 22 drivers who qualified in Indianapolis, filling the 33-car field for the May 25 race.

The first 11 drivers, including most of the big name drivers, made it into the field a week ago on the opening day of qualifications. The second scheduled day of time trials was rained out, leaving most of the lineup to fill this weekend.

Townsend Bell was the fastest of the day’s early qualifiers with a four-lap, 10-mile average of 222.539, barely bumping Rahal’s 222.531 out of the 11th spot.