Kasey Kahne's crew members celebrate after their win on Saturday. Kahne didn't lose a single spot on pit road during the Chevy 400. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Sunoco Pit Move: RIR

Qualifying well may not mean much at most tracks in the Nextel Cup Series, but it meant everything at Richmond.

Credit: CIA Stock Photo

The stat may be a hard one to dig up, but the top three qualifiers at Richmond all turned around and finished in the top three on Saturday night.

Kasey Kahne won on Saturday in large part to his pit crew and his pit stall. After qualifying first, Kahne had the coveted stall at the entrance to Turn 1, and he never lost the lead in the pits through five pit stops.

Even with the fast pit stops, crew chief Tommy Baldwin elected to stay out when the caution flew with 47 laps to go. At the time, Kahne only had 20 laps on his tires.

Sunoco Pit MoveThe No.9 team has flawless pit stops on their way to victory at RIR Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"We knew with 60 laps to go we were done with the pit stops," Baldwin said. "We were sticking to our plan."

The tires didn't fall off much at Richmond, so only three cars elected to stop for tires when the Lap 353 caution flew.

"We ran our fastest lap with three laps to go, so the Goodyears were really good tonight," Baldwin said.

Martin struggles at Richmond

CHEVY 400 •   Results •   Standings •   Lap by Lap Victory LaneKasey Kahne celebrates his elusive first Nextel Cup win Stewart saves itLeader Tony Stewart spins but saves his car in traffic Chevy 400Complete coverage of the Chevy 400 at Richmond Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Mark Martin's car never got dialed in at Richmond. He was the only lead-lap car to make two stops in the last 60 laps.

Martin was also one of the six cars who stopped with 21 to go, when the caution flew for Hermie Sadler's blown motor.

The stops didn't help Martin at all. In fact, it may have cost him a couple of spots. He was running 13th with 60 laps to go, but when the checkered flew, he was 15th.

Harvick angry after spots lost on pit road

Tony Stewart's spin on Lap 234 brought out the fifth caution, and with 70 laps on their tires, all the lead lap cars headed to pit road. Kevin Harvick was one of them. He was running fourth.

But Harvick got a slow stop, which spiraled him all the way to 10th. Harvick never got as high as fifth the rest of the way.

Busch has pit trouble, too

On the same caution where Harvick had his trouble, Kurt Busch also experienced problems, and it cost him a sure top-five finish.

"A lugnut got jammed in the brake rotor," crew chief Jimmy Fennig said. "The lugnuts came off -- five off and five on -- and when one of them busted off it hit the wheel and jumped through a window and got imbedded between the rotor and the caliper.

"It's a freak deal, but it just so happened that it happened to us."

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Busch lost a lap in the pits trying to make repairs. He got the lap back via the Lucky Dog on the final caution of the night.

Busch had four fresh tires for the final restart, but he still finished as the last car on the lead lap.

Quotable

"The crew did a great job in the pits. I think it was all my pit crew tonight. We had a really good car, but we had some unreal pit stops." -- Jamie McMurray, whose crew gained him spots every time on pit road