Kahne is able.

Kasey Kahne owes many things to his boyish good looks, but this one takes the cake. Kasey owes about $1,000,000 dollars to his loyal fans. We should not underestimate the power of the female NASCAR fan base. Although i have only empirical evidence of this. One can only assume that the driver of the #9 bud car was voted in by the ladies. Hey maybe it was the votes of those three pesky women that aimlessly chase Kasey around in those catchy Allstate commercials that  put Kahne into the All star event on Saturday night. It definitely was not his effort in the Sprint Showdown. The winner and runner up in the showdown get their chance at the All star cash prize, along with the winner of the fan vote. Kahne finished fifth in the showdown, a good run but not enough to get him into the show. A.J. Allmendinger raced his way in as well as former open wheeler Sam Hornish Jr. So a congrats to them because that was all the highlights they would have on Saturday night under the lights.
Kahne seemed like a non factor through the first three segments, the first of which was dominated by first quarter driver of the year Kyle Busch. Busch led all 25 laps of the first segment and about 17 or so in the second before he ran into some engine problems that basically ended his night. I must give DW some propers for being the first to diagnose the engine problem from way up n the booth. He made a hesitant  call about noise that the 18's engine was making then second guessed himself, stating "maybe i should wait for him to come around one more time, but I didn't like the sound of that 18 last time around". Waltrip was right on and a lap or so later his diagnosis was confirmed by the radio banter of the 18 team. Carl Edwards looked good as well, winning the second segment. but his car went away from him after the "halftime" break.  But in the end it was not about the Alllstate girls, or Kasey's boyish good looks, it was about the pit strategy of crew cheif Kenny Francis. Francis told Kahne "just get to the halftime and we will do the rest". Francis then elected to go for the track position opting to go with no tires, putting Kahne into the lead for the final segment. And that my friends was all she wrote!
Greg Biffle finished second, leaving him with about $800,000 bucks less them Kasey. But he did win the victory celebration contest with some fierce doughnuts and thick cloudy burnouts. I am sure the Biff would trade whatever trophy he received for those Million dollar doughnuts Kasey was leaving at the start/finish line at The Lowes Motor Speedway. Second place is truly first looser!

Michael Clark (emsea)