Kahne finally gets a victory

Kasey Kahne raced to his first victory of the season Saturday night, pulling away on a late restart to win the NASCAR Busch Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

Kahne, who started 32nd in a Dodge, hoped it was a sign that his horrendous season might soon turn around.

A six-time Nextel Cup winner last year, Kahne and his Evernham Motorsports team has struggled this year. He’s 30th in the Cup standings and hasn’t finished in the top 10 since the season opener.

But a win, even in the Busch Series, can create momentum that Kahne could carry over to today’s Nextel Cup Coca-Cola 600.

“Great job, guys, we finally got one,” he radioed his crew as he crossed the finish line.

Casey Mears, another Cup driver, was second in a Chevrolet. Clint Bowyer was third and was followed by Jeff Burton, Regan Smith, Jimmie Johnson, pole winner Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch as Cup drivers took the top eight spots.

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Dennis Setzer outwitted the competition for his 17th NASCAR Craftsman Truck series victory, running the entire rain-delayed Ohio 250 without a pit stop at Mansfield Motorsport Park.

Setzer, driving a Chevrolet, took the lead on the 239th of 250 laps around the half-mile oval when leader Rick Crawford cut down a tire in the fourth turn.

Setzer, who started 16th in the 36-truck field, ended a winless streak of 41 races. He averaged just 52.873 mph, with 103 laps run under the caution -- most due to the track drying as rain showers produced three stoppages totaling 5 hours 37 seconds.

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Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso won the pole for today’s Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. He completed the 2.076-mile, twisting street circuit in 1 minute 15.726 seconds.

Lewis Hamilton, Alonso’s McLaren teammate, was next at 1:15.905. Felipe Massa of Ferrari, who had the pole in the last three races, was third at 1:15.967.

In his debut Formula One season, Hamilton leads the standings with 30 points, two ahead of Alonso. Massa is third with 27.

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Rip Michels took the lead on the first lap, passing pole-sitter Travis Thirkettle, and went on to score an impressive flag-to-flag victory in the 75-lap ACDelco Super Late Model division feature race at Irwindale Speedway.

Michels, Irwindale Speedway’s winningest driver with 48 victories, posted his fourth consecutive win of the season.