by Michael Hogg

Created on: February 20, 2009   Last Updated: June 19, 2009

The 2008 Sprint All-Star Race saw a story to warm the hearts of Kasey Khane fans as their votes got him into the field (having failed to qualify via achieving a race win the previous year) and allowed him to work his way to the front of the field, winning the final of four segments and a cool one million dollars for his efforts. Sometimes being liked is just as important as being good.

Following the Sprint Showdown which gave the two top finishing non-qualified cars a chance to make the field, AJ Allmendinger and Sam Hornish joined Khane in the Showdown proper, the rest of the field being made up of 2007 race winners, previous NASCAR Cup Champions and previous Showdown winners. Kyle Busch made the early running at Lowe's Motor Speedway as he had done for much of the early part of the season, starting from pole after the complicated qualifying procedure of three timed laps with a four tire pitstop had put him on the pole. Leading through the second of four twenty-five lap segments which make up the one hundred lap race, he suddenly experienced a loss of power, the #18 Toyota Camry fading back through the field until the end of the second segment and the competition caution yellow at which time the Joe Gibbs team were able to lift the hood and decide that the problem wasn't fixable in time for the next segment, therefore having to reluctantly retire the car.

With the race going caution-free, the fourth and final segment saw Denny Hamlin leading the way in the #11 Toyota until as with his team-mate Busch, he suffered an engine failure, handing the lead to Kasey Khane who had elected at the final pitstop to take fuel only and grab track position by staying on his used rubber. Having stopped in his #16 Ford Fusion and collecting a new set of rubber and a full tank of gas, Greg Biffle headed the pursuing field in second but after a spirited attempt to grab the win from Khane he was forced to settle for second ahead of a top five made up of Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. Hornish made it a good day for the transfer cars by taking seventh place right behind Ryan Newman with fan's choice Dale Earnhardt Jr, Mark Martin and Carl Edwards completing the top ten.

Following the standard tradition for the All Star event, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pit Crew Challenge Presented by Craftsman ran on the Thursday of the event, Brian Vickers' #83 Team Red Bull squad showing the best example of pit crew skills.

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