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

A special performance of the National Anthem by former American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, got the night started in spectacular fashion. On a beautiful night Scott Riggs lead the 43-car field to the green flag for the 400-lap, 600 mile marathon.

Early in the race Riggs was the dominant driver holding onto the first position.

The big story early took place on lap 34 when Stewart had a right-front tire go down. The bad tire put him hard into the wall in turn one. With assistance, Stewart grimaced as he was pulled out of his car. Stewart's right shoulder was already sore due to a crash in last night's Busch race.

Stewart was transported to the hospital for evaluation. Tests at the hospital showed that he had sustained a fracture to the bottom of his shoulder blade. He was later released from the hospital.

Despite the injury don't be shocked if you see Stewart racing in Dover next weekend.

Meanwhile during the first 100 laps of the race Riggs, Jeff Gordon, Johnson, and Jeff Green traded the top spot. While they traded the lead, cautions were brought out for Stewart, Kurt Busch, and Ryan Newman.

As the cautions and pit stops mounted Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Riggs, Denny Hamlin, and Kahne took turns leading the race.

After 200 laps of racing, the half-way point, the top-five read: Kahne, Hamlin, Martin, Matt Kenseth, and Johnson.

When the sun set and the lights came on at the Lowe's Motor Speedway Kahne took control. He continued to increase his margin which expanded to over three seconds. Riggs, Jeff Burton, and Casey Mears battled behind Kahne.

After a caution for debris another round of pit stops took place during lap 306. Even though Kahne only took two tires during the stop he drooped back to sixth. Burton beat everyone off pit road to take first.

Burton led the field on the lap 311 restart. He had a great restart and started to pull away from the field. But a few laps after the restart Mears spun out and hit the wall hard. As he rolled down the track he hit Kyle Busch sending him into the grass with heavy damage to his car.

The drivers and teams all had different strategies as they took their stops. Burton decided to take four tires making his stop longer than drivers who just took only fuel. Martin was one of those drivers who took fuel only and came out in first on the grid.

The green flag dropped with 80 laps to go and Kahne wasted no time re-taking the lead passing Martin on the outside in turn four. Riggs moved past Matt Kenseth to take the second spot.

As Kahne and Riggs battled for first the No.48 Lowe's Chevrolet of Johnson moved up through the field to third. Johnson, who spent 365 laps in the top-10 during the night, had his sights on winning. A victory would give the Hendrick Motorsports star his fifth straight win at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

With 64 laps to go Kahne lost his lead when the persistent Riggs took the inside lane for the pass. By the next lap Kahne dropped to third as Johnson also passed him.

Carl Edwards and Kenseth drove in fourth and fifth, respectively, to round out the top-five with just 50 laps to go.

The leaders went in for green flag pit stops with 40 laps of racing remaining. Riggs made a crucial mistake by having a long stop. He came out of the pits in 17th position. He wasn't able to rebound and eventually finished in 13th.

Edwards was the winner off pit road giving him the race lead. Johnson and Kahne followed closely.

After a crash that ended Gordon's day the race got back under way with 31 laps to go. During the restart Johnson tried to pass on the inside for the lead but Edwards turned back the challenge. After Johnson's failed attempt, Kahne's attempted pass on the inside of Edwards was a success.

Kahne and Johnson battled side-by-side and traded the first spot as the laps dwindled down. But Kahne took control and started to pull away from Johnson. With 10 laps to go Kahne's built the gap to 2.023 seconds.

With lap traffic between Kahne and Johnson the margin stayed around two seconds. Johnson was never able to close the gap with all the backmarkers and Kahne crossed the finish line victorious.

Edwards, Martin, and Kenseth completed the top-five.

The next race in the Nextel Cup Series is set for Sunday, June 4th at Dover International Speedway.

Copyright 2006. Courtesy of SportsNetwork.