Kasey Kahne won a Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the first time yesterday after Brad Keselowski struggled on the final restart.
Tempers flared after the race. Joey Logano leaned inside the car window of former teammate Denny Hamlin to complain about Hamlin spinning him during the race. At the time, Logano was racing Jeff Gordon for the lead. Logano was pulled away from Hamlin’s car by crew members for both drivers.
Keselowski thought he and Kahne might have battled for the victory but never had a chance. Although it appeared Keselowski spun his tires on the restart with 39 laps to go, he said he got run over from behind.
Kyle Busch snagged second from Keselowski, who faded to third. Kurt Busch finished fourth.
RAIKKONEN WINS F1 OPENER
Raikkonen won Formula One’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, jump-starting Lotus’ bid to challenge the series’ bigger teams for the 2013 championship.
Raikkonen took the lead for good on lap 43 of 58 in a race that had seven different leaders, and had the luxury of driving conservatively in the closing laps while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel scrambled in vain to keep up, finishing second and third, respectively.
The Finn needed only two pit stops compared to three stops for each of the six men who followed in his wake, and he became the 15th driver in F1 history to record 20 grand prix wins.