Lap 250 -- Kasey Kahne wins the Sony HD 500 by
3.428 seconds over Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Lap 249 -- Sorenson is out of gas. Kahne roars
past for the lead.
Lap 247 -- Yeley heads for pit road, Kahne up
to second.
Lap 246 -- Kahne passes Bowyer for third, but
he's seven seconds behind Sorenson.
Lap 242 -- Sorenson's lead over J.J. Yeley is
six seconds.
Lap 240 -- Edwards inherits the lead, then
pits. Reed Sorenson is now the leader and may have
enough fuel to go the distance.
Lap 239 -- Junior rolls in. Junior gets right
side rubber and he's gone.
Lap 238 -- Leader Kahne heads for pit road.
Gordon and Kyle Busch in, too.
Lap 231 -- Junior rolls by Sadler on the high
side for second.
Lap 225 -- Kahne up by four seconds over
Sadler with 25 laps to go.
Lap 217 -- Pretty good night right now for Ray
Evernham. Kahne-Sadler-Riggs are 1-2-3.
Lap 206 -- And Kahne passes his teammate for
the lead. Kasey has already clinched the extra
five-point bonus for leading the most laps.
Lap 200 -- Sadler leads Kahne, 50 laps to
go.
Lap 195 -- Green flag. Elliott Sadler gets by
Martin for the lead.
Lap 193 -- Pit stops. Looks like Mark Martin
tried the two-tire strategy in order to get the lead and
the five points.
Lap 191 -- Debris? Yep. Caution again.
Lap 180 -- Kahne motors past Earnhardt, as
does Busch.
Lap 179 -- Green flag. Junior leads Kahne and
Kyle Busch.
Lap 176 -- Jeff Gordon back on pit road to
make sure all the lugs were tight. He's 25th.
Lap 175 -- Pit stops for the leaders. Junior
already out. Perhaps a two-tire change? And that gets
him the five-point bonus.
Lap 173 -- Yellow. David Gilliland spins but
doesn't hit anything.
Lap 166 -- And Gordon back to the front. And
Kahne back up to 16th.
Lap 163 -- Kyle Busch to the lead.
Lap 160 -- Green flag.
Lap 157 -- Pit stops for the leaders. Looks
like Gordon may have beaten Kahne out for the lead.
Kahne gets docked for a pit road speeding penalty and
gets sent to the end of the lead lap cars. Ouch.
Lap 155 -- A debris caution, just in time to
keep from having green-flag pit stops. Image that!
Lap 150 -- Two hundred miles to go. Kahne is
first, Junior second, Gordon third.
Lap 140 -- Kahne still leads. Gordon, Junior,
Hamlin and Kyle Busch round out the top five.
Lap 126 -- The race is now official, just in
case there's a freak downpour in the desert tonight.
Lap 119 -- Busch ducks under Kahne at the
stripe for the lead but Kasey pays him back in Turn
1.
Lap 115 -- Green flag. Martin restarts 28th,
but the crew may have fixed the problem: a bent
fender.
Lap 112 -- Pits are open. It's Kahne, Kyle
Busch and Gordon back onto the track.
Lap 110 -- Brian Vickers has blown a left tire
tire and that has ripped the fender off his car.
Caution's out. The front row jinx appears to be alive
and well (no front row starter has won at
California).
Lap 104 -- Martin's fallen back to 22nd
position, which puts him behind Kahne again in that
battle for the last Chase spot.
Lap 101 -- Right now, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony
Stewart and Jeff Burton are tied with 3,206 points, as
they currently run.
Lap 100 -- 200 miles in the books. Kahne leads
Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Gordon and Stewart.
Lap 95 -- Greg Biffle needs some serious help
to keep his Chase hopes alive. He's 12th right now, but
hasn't run a lap in the top 10 tonight.
Lap 89 -- Kahne passes Busch for the lead.
Lap 88 -- Hamlin and Kyle Busch make a Gordon
sandwich. Jeff drops all the way back to fourth as Busch
leads.
Lap 87 -- Green flag.
Lap 82 -- Yellow flag for more debris. That's
going to wipe out an eight-second advantage for
Gordon.
Lap 80 -- And the entire field has been in,
recycling the lead back to Jeff Gordon.
Lap 79 -- Kyle Busch takes over the lead as
Hamlin pits. That's five bonus points.
Lap 77 -- The leader's in as green flag pit
stops begin, handing the lead to Hamlin.
Lap 70 -- Gordon leads Hamlin by a little over
2 seconds. Kyle Busch now up to third.
Lap 57 -- Tony Stewart passes Kyle Busch for
fifth.
Lap 56 -- Put Jeff Gordon on the point as he
gets by Hamlin coming out of Turn 2.
Lap 53 -- Mark Martin up to 10th.
Lap 50 -- Your top five: Hamlin, Gordon,
Kahne, Burton and Kyle Busch.
Lap 42 -- Points racing? Every one of the 13
cars still eligible for the Chase is running no worse
than 17th.
Lap 40 -- Hamlin leads Burton, Bowyer, Kahne
and Kyle Busch.
Lap 32 -- Hamlin and Busch in a dead heat at
the line for the lead.
Lap 31 -- Green flag.
Lap 30 -- Pit stops. Looks like the left front
tire on Truex Jr.'s car either wasn't on tight -- or
wasn't on. He left only to come to a screeching halt on
three tires. Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Burton the first
three back on the track.
Lap 29 -- Caution's out. Debris in Turn 2.
Lap 26 -- Martin up to 20th, which moves him
back around Kahne for the last Chase spot, for now.
Lap 23 -- Hamlin passes Busch for second
behind Kahne.
Lap 21 -- Martin up to 23rd, which puts him
one point behind Kahne.
Lap 19 -- Kenseth slides up the track and gets
passed by at least four cars.
Lap 14 -- Green flag.
Lap 12 -- A busy pit road. Kahne, Jeff Gordon
and Kenseth the first three back on the track. With the
five bonus points for leading, Kahne now leads Martin by
four points for 10th place in the standings.
Lap 10 -- Your top five: Busch, Junior,
Vickers, Hamlin, Bowyer. Robby Gordon loops it, bringing
out the caution. Everybody avoids.
Lap 5 -- In case you're wondering, Mark
Martin's already up to 30th from his 38th starting
spot.
Lap 4 -- Jeff Burton nudged Scott Riggs, or
came close to it, trying to get by on the inside for
seventh. Busch still leads.
Lap 1 -- Kurt Busch brings 'em down for the
green at 8:10 p.m. ET. Only 250 laps to go.
Congrats to Sterling Marlin for making start No. 700:
"Rocky Top, you'll always be, home sweet home to me,
good ol' Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee."
8:01 p.m. ET -- Kelly Clarkson says "crank 'em
up" in Californian. Gnarly, dude.
7:59 p.m. ET -- Bill and Wally today. Benny's
back in North Carolina, but apparently had a good week
and should be back at Richmond. Get well, No. 72.
7:55 p.m. ET -- National anthem.
7:52 p.m. ET -- Gotta love the shots of the
Pacific Ocean, Beverly Hills and Hollywood -- THEN
California Speedway. According to Google maps, it's 54
miles from Fontana to Hollywood on I-10 ... and 65 to
Santa Monica. Or a couple of hours if traffic is bad,
and it almost always is. Trust me, you can get to Las
Vegas quicker.
7:34 p.m. ET -- Former Steeler running back
Jerome Bettis gets the ride with Wally this week. Wow,
who knew a Bus could fit in a Dodge?
7:29 p.m. ET -- Interesting stat about Mark
Martin. In his last six races, he's finished fourth,
19th, fifth, 20th, fifth and 28th. So does he run up
front tonight, despite starting 38th?
7:22 p.m. ET -- Nice feature on Kasey Kahne
and something that looks like a post-race burnout for
sports cars: Drifting. I'm certain that's good for the
engines and tires.
7 p.m. ET -- And NBC is on the air.
6:30 p.m. ET -- Welcome to tonight's Sony HD
500 from California Speedway. It's currently 100 degrees
at Fontana, with scattered clouds.