Pocono 500 | Raising Kahne in NASCAR

LONG POND, Pa. — A month ago Kasey Kahne didn't think his team was capable of winning anytime soon.

Now, the Enumclaw driver can't seem to stop winning.

Kahne's No. 9 Dodge team overcame an early pit miscue to win Sunday's Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway in dominating fashion.

The win is Kahne's second Sprint Cup Series victory in three weeks and gives him three during a four-week span, including his $1 million victory in the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

A series that lately has been cluttered by headlines from Kyle Busch is suddenly awash in a sea of red, the colors of Kahne's team. And Kahne, who was 14th in points after Darlington, S.C., on May 10, is now ninth, trailing the leader, Busch, by 365.

"As a driver, I didn't feel like my confidence was down. But until I actually won this year, the All-Star race, I realized that I was leaving a little bit out there and wasn't communicating probably like I should have been," Kahne said. "I definitely credit the fans for getting us into the All-Star race. That gave us the momentum."

He followed the All-Star win with a victory the next week in the Coca-Cola 600, and although he bobbled last week with a 31st-place finish at Dover, he owned Pocono.

"We had such a good car all weekend from the time practice started to qualifying first and then winning," said Kahne, who picked up his ninth win in 158 Cup starts.

"There was nothing close when we were out front."

Remaining there was the key.

Kahne and Jimmie Johnson appeared to have two of the fastest cars early, but during a pit stop on Lap 63, Kahne's crew chief, Kenny Francis, had a change of heart and wanted a two-tire stop instead of four.

There was a problem. The tire changer had removed three lug nuts on a left-side tire, so Kahne was forced to return to pit road to properly affix the tire. He restarted the race in 38th place.

"I was pretty down, pretty mad at myself," Francis said. "The biggest thing I was afraid of was if it was going to rain and we would not have time to get back up there.

"I was a little bit relieved that we got back up there so I could stop kicking myself."

Kahne was back in the top 10 by Lap 90 of 200 and never fell below seventh after that except when making his final green-flag stop for fuel with 25 laps remaining.

With 16 laps left, Kahne easily maneuvered around Brian Vickers and then pulled away to a nearly four-second victory.

Although he said he was confident he had the car that could battle from the back of the field, he was concerned.

"When you're back there," he said, "it's tough racing all the way through these fields."

"My car was just so good today, and the longer the race went, the hotter the track got, the slicker the racetrack got, the better our car got."

Notes

• Funny Car star Tony Pedregon won for the second time this season, beating Scott Kalitta on Sunday in the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Joliet, Ill.

• Robert Kubica grabbed his first Formula One victory and the series points lead Sunday at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

• Scott Dixon crossed the finish line under caution to win the IndyCar Series race Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

The Associated Press contributed material to this story.