NSCS - Toyota/SaveMart 350

Kasey Kahne held off Tony Stewart on a green-white-checker finish to put his #9 and his boss man, Richard Petty in victory lane @ Sonoma!

"It feels great," Kahne said. "With myself, I've had issues here in the past with finishing anywhere on this course ... and then race really strong today was the first time that I've been able to pull that off. Working with Kenny Francis (crew chief), Keith Rodden (engineer) and our whole Budweiser team did just a perfect job today. Our car felt great. It turned awesome, it had great forward drive, and I was able to race with some of the fastest guys throughout the race, and we were able to win. I'm excited as can be to win a race at Infineon."

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The King greeted Kahne in victory lane. It's the first time in a decade that a Petty-owned car has been in the winner's circle; since John Andretti won the spring race @ Martinsville in '99.

"You know, after watching today and watching the guys run and having two other cars in the Top 10, this just really made us feel good because we've run good enough to win a couple or three races, but circumstances just haven't been on our side," Petty said. "Today it really looked bad to begin with because we got two of our cars, one of them had trouble and they had to come in the garage area, and the other two got a lap down, not no fault of their own, but it just happened. They was able to catch it back up and run 7th and 10th. So from Richard Petty Motorsports it was really a good day. I think going in on Monday morning, I think all of us will be welcomed home a little bit more than what we have been for the last few weeks."

"To see Richard Petty in the winner's circle with us today, that was big," Kahne explained. "That was a neat deal, and excited to see him up there. I don't think coming in today he expected the 9 to win. I don't know if anybody did. You know, I think that was really cool to see Richard in victory lane with us, and it's a big deal. Richard Petty Motorsports is a great company, and we keep building and trying to make it better and stronger, and Kenny Francis is a huge part of that. So I'm happy driving cars that Kenny works on, that's for sure."

Kahne led the race high 37 laps. He had to hold on to the lead and fend off Tony Stewart through 4 restarts. It's Kahne's first win since Pocono last June, a 37 race stretch. His best previous finish @ Infineon was 23rd in '07.

Tony Stewart lead twice for 11 laps, but settled in to run 2nd behind Kahne through the closing laps of the race. He held on for a runner up finish and his 8th top-5 this season.

"We weren't getting the fuel mileage we wanted, and that changed our strategy a little bit. Instead of being a two stop race it turned into a three stop race for us," Stewart said. "Kasey just never made a mistake at the end. He did an awesome job those last 20 laps and just never slipped a wheel, never missed a corner and made a mistake. He made one mistake the whole time in the closing laps there and we were able to get a run on him, but couldn't do anything when we got there. He was just better than we were."

Marcos Ambrose finished 3rd followed by Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, A.J. Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon and Elliott Sadler.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here.

There were 7 cautions for 20 laps and 10 lead changes among 8 drivers:
B. Vickers 1-16; Kyle Busch 17-26; T. Stewart 27-29; K. Kahne 30-32; D. Hamlin 33-36; Kurt Busch 37; D. Hamlin 38-66; T. Stewart 67-74; R. Gordon 75-77; S. Speed 78-79; K. Kahne 80-113

Tony Stewart is now 84 points ahead of Jeff Gordon in the point standings.