Kasey Kahne's car gave out after 374 laps. Credit: Autostock

Engine failure ruins Kahne's promising start

Mayfield's hard luck continues; Riggs has top-10 run for Evernham

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- For more than half of Sunday's DirecTV 500, Kasey Kahne had designs on a top-five finish as he engaged in a scintillating battle for the Nextel Cup point lead with Jimmie Johnson.

But after the engine failed in his No. 9 Dodge Charger after 374 laps, Kahne was left with only visions of what might have been, and a disappointing 35th-place finish.

Credit: Autostock

Official Results DirecTV 500 Pos. Driver Make 1. T. Stewart Chevy 2. J. Gordon Chevy 3. J. Johnson Chevy 4. D. Earnhardt Jr. Chevy 5. Kyle Busch Chevy • Complete results, click here • Driver standings, click here Victory LaneTony Stewart celebrates his win in the DirecTV 500 Final LapsStewart, Johnson and Gordon battle in the final laps Finding the wallBiffle and Burton suffer heavy damage after wrecks Early cautionJunior, Robby caught up in a multi-car wreck on Lap 2 Making a comebackJeff Gordon rallies to finish second at Martinsville Good teammatesJimmie Johnson explains how Gordon helped his Martinsville car setup Race RewindWatch a condensed version of the DirecTV 500 in Martinsville! Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

"We had a great racecar and we were having a lot of fun," Kahne said. "We finished second in this race last year, but this was the best car I'd ever had here at Martinsville.

"We were looking good and it was a lot of fun -- it just wasn't our day."

For 275 laps, Kahne was never listed lower than sixth in the scoring rundowns. But after that his car started acting up.

"It looks like it might have been a valve spring -- something that wasn't too bad, but it ended up getting worse and worse and we couldn't run up front any more," Kahne said. "It happened just like that [with no warning].

"We ran in the top three the first half of the race. We got it a little too loose and fell back to fourth, but we were just one or two adjustments away from being a top-three car."

At Lap 281, Kahne reported to his team that his car had lost a cylinder and the slide was on.

He fell back to the last car on the lead lap and was lapped by race winner Tony Stewart just after Lap 330. Kahne was the free-pass car on the 11th of 16 cautions at Lap 336, but it was the day's final bright spot.

Adding further injury to Evernham Motorsports' woes, teammate Jeremy Mayfield, whose No. 19 Dodge moved into the top 10 as Kahne fell back after his engine dropped a cylinder, fell victim to the same failure some 90 laps later, and Mayfield was on the sidelines after Lap 462.

"We're not exactly sure but it was something in the valve train that we think was similar to what happened to Kasey's car earlier in the race," Mayfield's crew chief, Chris Andrews, said. "It started showing the same symptoms so we tried to nurse it along as long as we could."

Scott Riggs, driving the third Evernham car, the No. 10 Dodge, saved the team's day with a 10th-place finish -- his best of the season as he continued a comeback in the standings.

By the time the 500-lap race was over, Kahne had fallen to fourth in the standings, 101 points behind Johnson, who finished third and retook the lead from Matt Kenseth.

But with the series heading to Texas Motor Speedway, the latest 1.5-mile venue on the schedule following Kahne's victory two weeks ago at the similar Atlanta Motor Speedway, that was some consolation.

"We've got our Atlanta car that we're taking to Texas, and it should run well," Kahne said. "These guys are doing an awesome job and our engines run great each week.

"We just had a small problem [Sunday], we'll regroup and bounce back next week at Texas. I'm really looking forward to that race."

With his finish, Riggs unofficially moved up to 30th in both the driver and owner point standings. Even after finishing 26th -- his fifth finish worse than 22nd in six races this season -- Mayfield's team remained 34th in the owner standings, and is still locked into a guaranteed starting position.

Jeremy Mayfield can't get things going this season. Credit: Autostock

"We were good all day," Mayfield said. "We've just got a monkey on our back and can't get it off for some reason -- I don't know why.

"We had the car working good all day until right there at the end. The guys worked hard, and you can't really complain. We've just dug ourselves in a hole, and we've got to figure out how to dig out."

"It was another weekend where we've run strong [and something crazy happens]," Andrews said. "But that's what keeps us getting out of bed every day.

"We've run on the edge of the top 10 in a lot of races this year, and we've not finished a lot of races, but we'll be in Texas."