Catchfence

Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart headed into Phoenix International Raceway with Stewart trailing Edwards by 3-points for the NSCS points lead, and with 160 laps led (the most led) it was looking like Stewart was heading for his third consecutive win. But, it was Kasey Kahne with 14-laps to go taking the lead, and  keeping Edwards and Stewart behind him at the drop of the checkered flag to win the Kobalt Tools 500(k).

Kahne, who broke a 81-race winless streak, received his 1st series win of the 2011 season, his 12th series career win and his first series win at Phoenix International Raceway.

With Edwards finishing in second and Stewart third (and leading the most laps) brings the two drivers coming to the final race of the season (Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway) with the same 3-point deficit for Stewart, and the battle for the championship coming down to the two of them (all others have been eliminated).

Following Kahne, Edwards and Stewart was Jeff Burton finishing in the fourth position, Ryan Newman finishing fifth, AJ Allmendinger sixth, David Reutimann seventh, Marcos Ambrose eighth, Paul Menard ninth and Clint Bowyer rounds out the top-ten finishing positions.

RACE NOTES:

Average Speed: 112.918 MPH
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 45 Mins, 47 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.802 Seconds
Lead Changes: 14 among 7 drivers
Cautions: 8 for 30 laps
Attendance: 85,000

Unofficial Top-Twelve in the Points Standings: 1. Carl Edwards – 2359 (Leader) 2. Tony Stewart – 2356 (-3 Points Behind the Leader) 3. Kevin Harvick – 2308 (-51) 4. Brad Keselowski – 2294 (-65) 5. Jimmie Johnson – 2291 (-68) 6. Matt Kenseth –  2289 (-70) 7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 2257 (-102) 8. Kurt Busch – 2252 (-107) 9. Ryan Newman – 2252 (-107) 10. Denny Hamlin – 2249 (-110) 11. Jeff Gordon – 2247 (-112) 12. Kyle Busch – 2224 (-135).

Next Up: The final race of the season with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 20th, with ESPN beginning their (pre-race) television coverage at 2:00 PM (ET).

2011 NSCS Kobalt Tools 500(k) Race Results

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Lap	Pts	BPts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	10	4	Kasey Kahne	Red Bull Toyota	312	47	4	Running	1	14
2	9	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	312	43	1	Running	2	27
3	8	14	Tony Stewart	Mobil 1 / Office Depot Chevrolet	312	43	2	Running	5	160
4	14	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Global Mining Chevrolet	312	40		Running
5	30	39	Ryan Newman	U.S. Army Veterans Day Chevrolet	312	39		Running
6	2	43	A J Allmendinger	WIX Filters Ford	312	38		Running
7	7	0	David Reutimann	TUMS Toyota	312	37		Running
8	3	9	Marcos Ambrose	DeWalt Ford	312	36		Running
9	11	27	Paul Menard	Peak / Menards Chevrolet	312	35		Running
10	28	33	Clint Bowyer	USO / Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet	312	34		Running
11	25	20	Joey Logano	The Home Depot Toyota	312	33		Running
12	33	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Freight Toyota	312	32		Running
13	29	16	Greg Biffle	3M / Meguiar's Ford	311	31		Running
14	16	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet	311	30		Running
15	26	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	311	29		Running
16	4	5	Mark Martin	GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	311	28		Running
17	6	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald's Chevrolet	311	27		Running
18	12	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Dodge	311	27	1	Running	1	4
19	27	29	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Chevrolet	311	25		Running
20	5	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	311	24		Running
21	31	47	Bobby Labonte	Wounded Warrior Project / Clorox / Kleenex Toyota	311	23		Running
22	17	22	Kurt Busch	Shell Pennzoil Dodge	311	23	1	Running	1	57
23	18	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	311	21		Running
24	22	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Retro Diet Mt. Dew / National Guard Chevrolet	310	20		Running
25	19	84	Cole Whitt(i)	Red Bull Racing Toyota	310	0		Running
26	38	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Toyota	309	18		Running
27	43	35	Dave Blaney	Golden Corral Chevrolet	309	17		Running
28	41	38	J J Yeley	Vampt Ford	309	17	1	Running	1	1
29	21	51	Landon Cassill(i)	Phoenix Construction Chevrolet	309	0		Running
30	39	32	Mike Bliss(i)	Veterans United Home Loans Ford	308	0		Running
31	42	34	David Gilliland	Aloft Hotels Ford	307	13		Running
32	23	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont Chevrolet	306	12		Running
33	13	6	David Ragan	UPS My Choice Ford	298	11		Running
34	1	17	Matt Kenseth	Crown Royal Ford	238	11	1	Accident	4	49
35	20	7	Robby Gordon	SPEED Energy / MAPEI Dodge	218	9		Accident
36	34	18	Kyle Busch	Interstate Batteries Toyota	188	8		Engine
37	40	36	Geoffrey Bodine	Luke & Associates Inc. Chevrolet	153	7		Accident
38	15	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet	62	6		Accident
39	24	46	Scott Speed(i)	Green Stuff Absorbent Ford	60	0		Electrical
40	35	66	Michael McDowell	HP Racing Toyota	46	4		Transmission
41	32	87	Joe Nemechek(i)	AM FM Energy Pellet & Wood Stoves Toyota	30	0		Brakes
42	36	37	Mike Skinner(i)	MaxQ Motorsports Ford	25	0		Brakes
43	37	55	Travis Kvapil(i)	Aloft Hotels Ford	20	0		Brakes

(i) Ineligible for Points in this Series
# Denotes Rookie