Kahne makes up some ground

Kasey Kahne gave himself a huge boost in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with a victory Sunday night in the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kahne jumped from 11th to sixth in the Sprint Cup standings with the victory, allowing him to breathe a little easier going into next weekend’s race at Richmond, Va., that will set the 12-driver field for the season-ending playoff.

Kevin Harvick, who won the Nationwide race Saturday night, was in position for a weekend double until teammate Clint Bowyer spun with 15 laps to go, bringing out the last caution. Kahne got Harvick on the restart and pulled away to a 1.766-second win.

Harvick held on for second, matching his best performance this season. Juan Pablo Montoya finished third and solidified his odds of making the Chase for the first time.

“We did it right at the end,” Kahne said. “We had an unbelievable car throughout the race. I think Kevin was the best on the long runs. We did it at the end.”

Denny Hamlin became the fourth driver to clinch a spot in the Chase with a sixth-place showing. Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson were already in.

Kahne is feeling a lot better about his chances too.

“I knew Harvick and Montoya were going to be really tough there at the end,” Kahne said. “We just got them. We had a really good car for about 10 laps.”

There was no change among the top 12, though there was some shuffling in their order. Stewart still leads, followed by Gordon, Johnson, Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Kahne, Kurt Busch, Montoya, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth. Brian Vickers will go to Richmond only 20 points behind Kenseth, with Kyle Busch 37 points out of a return to the Chase.

The first scheduled night race in Atlanta history and a new Labor Day weekend date were a big hit with the fans. At least 100,000 turned out after years of declining attendance at the 1.54-mile tri-oval track south of Atlanta.

Johnson was running second when he lost control of his No. 48 car coming out of Turn 2. He managed to control his slide, avoid the inside wall and get back to the pits for another set of tires, but the mishap knocked him to 19th. He was on the verge of getting back into the top 10 when a broken axle during a pit stop forced him back to the garage for repairs. He had to go back to the garage one more time to fix a balky gear box and finished in 36th place, 22 laps behind.

Edwards hobbled out to his car on crutches after breaking his right foot playing Frisbee a few days earlier. His pedal foot didn’t give him any problem, but his night was ruined by a hole in his radiator. He had to go to the garage for lengthy repairs and wound up just behind Johnson.

Edwards won this race a year ago, one of nine victories on his way to a second-place finish in the season standings. He has not won this year, but maybe that’s for the best -- there’s no way he can do his customary victory celebration, a back flip off his No. 99 car, with his ailing foot.

Kurt Busch, who won the spring race in Atlanta with a dominating run, didn’t come close to matching that performance. He struggled with an ill-handling car most of the race before slamming the wall coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 244 of 325. His ended up 38th.

The crash also took out local favorite Reed Sorenson.

“We had a loose race car, and it kept getting loose,” Busch said. “We just couldn’t get a handle on it. I got sideways and Reed hit us. I’m sure he had no place to go. It was a real hard hit. That’s a bummer.”

At least he still has a spot in the Chase. Younger brother Kyle was hoping to get back in the mix with a strong run, but finishing 13th knocked him back one spot. Now, the pressure will be on heading to Richmond -- quite a chance from a year ago when he was the leader going to the playoff.

Pole-sitter Martin Truex got off to a good start and led three times for a race-high 68 laps. But he later struggled and finished 26th.