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Kasey Kahne followed up his All-Star Race win with a victory in Nascar's longest race the following week, surviving a wild Coca-Cola 600 to get to victory lane in a points-paying race for the first time since the fall race at Lowe's in 2006, as he survived the whole 600 miles as others fell from contention.

"Dale Jr. fell out, he was awesome. Tony Stewart fell out, he was awesome," Kahne said, as teammate Elliott Sadler poured Coca-Cola on him. "They had us beat at times tonight, and we had them beat at times tonight."

Just hours before the race, the Indianapolis 500 had a race-changing incident just a few laps after halfway, when Tony Kanaan was passed by two cars headed into the third corner. The second car to pass him was his teammate Marco Andretti, and the pass forced Kanaan into the mables and into the wall. Kanaan was then hit by Sarah Fisher, and just like that a contender to win the 92nd Indianapolis 500 was out of the race.

"As usual, I'm in the lead and something happens," Kanaan said.

However, this would be minuscule compared to all the contenders who's chances of winning were taken away during the Coca-Cola 600.

It all started with Kurt Busch, when he slammed into the wall after having led several laps. Busch would eventually finish 16th, being a non-factor for the rest of the race. Then Brian Vickers' left-rear wheel dislodged from his car, sending Vickers' Toyota into the wall and out of the race, as the tire made its way into the infield.

Then, with just over 100 laps to go, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led the most laps, blew a tire and slammed into the wall while leading. Substantial damage was added when J.J Yeley rear-ended Earnhardt's car. Earnhardt would use fuel strategy to finish 5th, but was unable to contend for the win.

Earnhardt's teammate, Jimmie Johnson, was also running up front late when he had an engine failure, ending his day with a 39th place finish.

Then Tony Stewart, who had a commanding 5 second lead and was just cruising to the finish with four laps to go, blew a right-front tire, losing the lead to Kahne, finishing a disappointing 18th. From there, Kahne just had to keep his car off the wall to earn his 8th career victory.

Finishing 2nd to Kahne was Greg Biffle, who also finished 2nd to him in the All-Star Race, followed by Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt.

The race was the final one with Humpy Wheeler as track president. Wheeler is considered one of Nascar's greatest promoters, having introduced some of the best pre-race activites. He also was the first to introduce luxury suits to Nascar, and the first to put lights on a 1.5 mile track. Wheeler was honored before the race and all 150,000 fans in attendance gave him a standing ovation, as a plane carried a banner that read "Thank You Humpy."

"I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to you for buying tickets to this facility through all these years," Wheeler said, while nearby fans erected a sign reading "Thanks Humpy" on top of their motor home.