BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 23, 2008) ----Kasey Kahne and the No. 9 Budweiser Team met an unfortunate demise during Saturday’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. After starting 13th and working his way up to seventh, Kahne found himself in the middle of a multi-car pileup on lap 215 that resulted in a 40th-place finish.

Kahne started 13th, and as he cracked the top 10 on lap 65 it became obvious that the No. 9 Budweiser Team was going to be the class of the field. Working his way into the seventh position, Kahne radioed to the crew that he was happy with the handling on his No. 9 Dodge. As he set his sights on the top five, Casey Mears and Michael Waltrip made contact directly in front of Kahne, resulting in a multi-car pileup that collected the Budweiser Dodge.

The Budweiser Crew worked feverishly for over 150 laps making repairs, but the damage sustained was too severe to return to the track and Kahne was credited with a 40th-place finish.

“We had a good racecar and it’s a shame that we got caught up in that mess,” Kahne said. “The crash happened so fast. I just saw cars wrecking everywhere in front of me and there was nothing that I could do. I saw the 5 and 55 and the next thing that I know I got hit from behind and tore up our Budweiser Dodge pretty good. It’s disappointing because we’re going to take a hit in the Chase points, but that’s the risk you run here at Bristol. I love racing here at Bristol – it’s a great place with great fans. It’s just a bad deal for us tonight.

“I really have to thank this entire team,” Kahne continued. “They worked so hard to get the car fixed up and tried to get me back out. I just hate it for them that it ended this way.”

Kahne’s 40th-place finish dropped him three spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings to 14th. He is now 56 points behind 12th-place Clint Bowyer and 44 points behind 13th-place David Ragan.

Carl Edwards continued his hot streak, passing Kyle Busch with 30 laps remaining to score his second-consecutive victory. Busch followed in the second position, while Denny Hamlin posted the third-place finish. Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon followed to complete the top-five finishing order.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads west to Auto Club Speedway for the Pepsi 500. The Labor Day weekend event is scheduled for an 8 p.m. EDT start. ESPN will provide live television coverage beginning with pre-race action at 7 p.m. Live radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN).

No. 9 Budweiser Dodge race report courtesy of: Elevation Group of Companies