RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Tony Stewart was unusually happy with his second-place finish at Richmond International. That’s because he had a front-row seat for Kasey Kahne’s first career Nextel Cup victory.

“I’m pretty honored that when they tell this story for the next five or six years about his first win, I was the guy that ran second to him,” Stewart said Saturday night after Kahne captured the Chevrolet 400, his first win in 47 races on the tour.

“It’s been long overdue and he deserved to win.”

Stewart was among those that visited with Kahne in Victory Lane, sharing in the moment and offering the driver a bit of encouragement.

“I told him the second one won’t take that long,” he said.

For Kahne – who started on the pole for the sixth time and was runner-up in six of his first 46 races – holding off his good friend Stewart on several late restarts made it all the more special.

“It was awesome to be able to race with him all night long, and to be able to beat him,” the 25-year-old Kahne said. “He’s as good as they get.”

Kahne’s victory was the first for a Dodge Charger since 1977, and car owner Ray Evernham said he expects it will be the first of many to come.

“He’s really going to do big things in this sport,” Evernham said.

Stewart led eight times for 143 laps, but once Kahne produced the 21st lead change by passing Stewart with 106 laps to go, the 2004 rookie of the year overcame several cases of rattled nerves and proved repeatedly that he had the best car.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Kahne said. “We’ve been leading at four to go, 10 to go, and not got it done. At least we finally won one.”

The race also jumbled and tightened the point standings after pace-setting Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon had brutal nights, finishing 40th and 39th, respectively. Defending series champion Kurt Busch also struggled, finishing 17th and a lap down.

After combining to win nine of the first 10 races, Hendrick (four wins) and Roush Racing (five) each placed only one car in the top 10.

Johnson remained the points leader, but saw his lead trimmed from 127 points to 41, with Greg Biffle now second. Gordon dropped to third, 124 points back, followed by Elliott Sadler (149 back) and Busch (155 back).

Sadler, a native of Emporia just 70 miles from Richmond, capped a strong weekend at the three-quarter-mile oval by finishing seventh.

A night earlier, he ran second in the Busch Series race here.

“That’s an awesome weekend, the best weekend I’ve ever had, I think,” he said after his third consecutive strong performance on a short track. Sadler finished second at Bristol and ninth at Martinsville.

“Last year we were so bad on short tracks and we kind of made a pact with each other. This winter we did a lot of testing at Lakeland and I think it’s paid off. We ran really good at Bristol, really good at Martinsville and came out to Richmond and run this good,” he said.

“It’s a great, great job.”

AP-ES-05-15-05 1329EDT