Kasey Kahne figured that winning the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at California Speedway was the one way he could assure himself of remaining in the fight for the upcoming playoffs.

“I came here telling myself, `You’ve got to win. You’ve got to win. You have to go out there and lead laps,’” Kahne said. “That’s all you can do if you want to make this Chase.”

Still, the 26-year-old Cup star thought he might be setting his sights a little too high.

“You can’t expect to win. You can’t expect to lead the most laps just because you want to,” he said. “It’s way too tough competition. But we just hit everything right this weekend.”

Kahne started by winning Saturday night’s Busch Series event on the 2-mile oval, then led a race-high 132 of 250 laps Sunday on the way to his series-leading fifth victory of the season. He closed in on a spot in the Chase with one race remaining to get it done.

To win Sunday, Kahne had to overcome a penalty, a series of challengers and a daring fuel gamble by rookie Reed Sorenson at the end.

“These guys fought back with great pit stops,” Kahne said. “I just can’t thank this team enough. They just worked their butts off to get us back in this Chase and at least now we have a chance going into Richmond next week.”

Not even a penalty for speeding on pit road halfway through the 250-lap race could stop Kahne, who fell back briefly to 24th. His No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge stuck with the leaders and, thanks to a two-tire pit stop on lap 176 that got him up to second, Kahne was in position to drive past Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead after the green flag came back out on lap 180.

After falling back again when several other cars made two-tire pit stops, Kahne outdueled new teammate Elliott Sadler to regain the top spot on lap 197. But there was yet another challenge.

Several drivers tried to stretch their final tank of gas to the finish and the 20-year-old Sorenson, who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, almost pulled off his first victory and the first for the team since 2002. He took the lead on lap 241 after most of the top cars pitted for a splash of gas and two tires.

Kahne, who gave up the lead when he made his final stop on lap 238, found himself in fifth, nearly 14 seconds behind Sorenson. Kahne charged hard, grabbing second from rookie Clint Bowyer on lap 247, but was still more than 7 seconds behind the leader.

But Sorenson lost his gamble, running out of gas starting lap 249. Kahne zoomed past and raced away for the sixth victory of his career, beating Earnhardt to the finish by 3.428 seconds. Sorenson wound up 21st.

“You think a lot,” Kahne said of all the ups and downs in the race. “You think about not making mistakes, not doing anything wrong. But you still have to be aggressive.

“We made a lot of good calls tonight and we definitely deserved this one.”

AP via Yahoo

Pos St # Driver Sponsor Car Pts Status Laps

1 9 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 190 Running 250
2 6 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Chevrolet 175 Running 250
3 3 07 Clint Bowyer Jack Daniels Chevrolet 165 Running 250
4 24 99 Carl Edwards Office Depot Ford 165 Running 250
5 14 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 160 Running 250
6 8 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Chevrolet 155 Running 250
7 11 17 Matt Kenseth DeWalt Ford 146 Running 250
8 10 5 Kyle Busch Kellogg’s Chevrolet 147 Running 250
9 22 20 Tony Stewart The Home Depot Chevrolet 138 Running 250
10 36 88 Dale Jarrett UPS Ford 134 Running 250
11 16 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 130 Running 250
12 38 6 Mark Martin AAA Ford 132 Running 250
13 18 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 129 Running 250
14 33 42 Casey Mears Texaco/Havoline Dodge 121 Running 250
15 15 29 Kevin Harvick GM Goodwrench Chevrolet 118 Running 250
16 7 31 Jeff Burton Cingular Wireless Chevrolet 115 Running 250
17 4 10 Scott Riggs Valvoline Dodge 112 Running 250
18 5 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 109 Running 250
19 19 18 J.J. Yeley Interstate Batteries Chevrolet 106 Running 250
20 31 26 Jamie McMurray Smirnoff Ice Ford 103 Running 250
21 34 41 Reed Sorenson Diet Pepsi/Target Dodge 105 Running 249
22 30 66 Jeff Green Best Buy Chevrolet 97 Running 249
23 29 21 Ken Schrader U.S. Air Force Ford 94 Running 249
24 21 16 Greg Biffle National Guard Ford 91 Running 249
25 13 01 Joe Nemechek U.S. Army Chevrolet 88 Running 249
26 28 43 Bobby Labonte Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge 85 Running 249
27 1 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 87 Running 249
28 41 22 Dave Blaney Caterpillar Dodge 79 Running 249
29 27 14 Sterling Marlin Ginn Clubs & Resorts Chevrolet 76 Running 249
30 17 4 Scott Wimmer Lucas Oil Chevrolet 73 Running 248
31 37 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA Dodge 70 Running 248
32 20 38 David Gilliland Pedigree Ford 67 Running 248
33 12 12 Ryan Newman Sony Dodge 64 Running 248
34 43 32 Travis Kvapil Tide/Downy Chevrolet 61 Running 248
35 35 45 Kyle Petty Schwan’s Home Delivery Dodge 58 Running 247
36 32 40 David Stremme Coors Light Dodge 55 Running 247
37 42 96 Tony Raines DLP HDTV Chevrolet 52 Running 247
38 39 49 Kevin Lepage LoansDepot.com Dodge 49 Running 247
39 40 78 Kenny Wallace Furniture Row Chevrolet 46 Running 246
40 26 44 Terry Labonte GMAC Chevrolet 43 Running 246
41 2 25 Brian Vickers Garnier Fructis Chevrolet 40 Running 237
42 23 00 Bill Elliott Burger King Chevrolet 37 Running 224
43 25 7 Robby Gordon World Series of Poker Chevrolet 34 Mechanical 193