Kahne wins rain-shortened 3M Performance 400

Brooklyn, MI (Sports Network) - Kasey Kahne won Sunday's 3M Performance 400 Nextel Cup race at the Michigan International Speedway when rain stopped the race after 129 of 200 laps. The No.9 Evernham Motorsports driver finished just ahead of Carl Edwards.

The victory was Kahne's fourth of the season and fifth of his Cup career.

"This is awesome, the whole Dodge team has done an awesome job again," said Kahne.

After a short rain delay, pole winner Kahne brought the field to the green flag for a scheduled 200-lap event. He only held the lead for one lap however, before a determined Jeff Gordon slid underneath him for his first lead of the day.

They got 10 laps in before rain forced another delay.

During the caution period, Kenseth hit Bill Lester on pit road and damaged the right-front spoiler. It would force him to pit a couple more times for repairs.

Lap 23 saw Tony Stewart head to the garage when Jeff Green clipped him and sent him into the outside wall. Others involved in early accidents included: J.J. Yeley, Ken Schrader and Joe Nemechek.

Besides Gordon and Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and points leader Jimmie Johnson were looking pretty strong.

Kahne was forced to drop from the top-10 when his car began to overheat from some debris on the grill. He fell one lap down to the leaders, but on the next caution received the "Lucky Dog" pass and was back on the lead lap.

The interesting question for crew chiefs and their strategies: Would this be a 100-lap race because of rain, or go the full 200-laps?

"Junior" drove underneath Gordon for the lead on lap 60. The two superstars traded the lead back and forth over the next few laps, but their one-second margin over third-place Johnson disappeared as they raced side-by-side.

After the next caution, Brian Vickers" No.25 Hendrick Motorsports pit crew got him off pit lane first and he became the race leader. But only for seven laps before Edwards overtook him.

Edwards quickly built a lead of more than two seconds as the field approached the 100-lap mark making the race "official." But with the rain seeming to hold off, it appeared that the race might make its advertised distance.

Kahne was rebounding well from his early overheating problems and slipped by Johnson into fourth place.

Greg Biffle, Edwards' Roush Racing teammate began to chop away at the No.99 Ford's lead. On lap 109, he was less than one second behind Edwards. Then a debris caution flag came out and eliminated the rest of the margin.

Reed Sorenson used a two-tire stop with 85 laps to go to sneak into the lead, but the old left-side rubber quickly worked against him and Kahne took the lead back on lap 117. Edwards, "Junior" and Biffle also made their way past Sorenson.

Another caution flag for rain slowed the drivers with 75 laps remaining. Four laps later the red flag was displayed and the field brought down pit lane as the rain got a lot heavier.

The race never got back underway as the rain continued and NASCAR officials were forced to end the race.

"We did all we could to hustle back up there, but without a great race car we couldn't have done it," said the winner.

Earnhardt Jr., Biffle and Sorenson completed the top-five.

The next race in the series is the Dodge Save/Mart 350 from the Infineon Raceway, in Sonoma, CA. on Sunday, June 25th.