Kasey Kahne gave HMS win #201 on Sunday night in the quickest Coca-Cola 600 ever. (photo credit: NASCAR)

Everybody deals with pressure at one point in their lifetime and Kasey Kahne is no different.

Sunday night all the pressure that had been mounting since signing with Hendrick Motorsports was lifted in one drop of a checkered flag.

Kasey Kahne won his third Coca-Cola 600 and also placed himself back in the hunt for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

Last night’s victory was Kahne’s 13th overall in Sprint Cup and the first since winning in Phoenix last season.  Last night was also Kahne’s 300th career Sprint Cup start as well.

Kahne was also part of history in making this year’s race the quickest ever at three hours, fifty-one minutes and fourteen seconds.  This made last night’s race nearly five minutes faster than the one back in 1995 which previously held the record until last night.

It was a banner night for Hendrick Motorsports all around as four of their cars finished in the top eleven spots.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished sixth, Jeff Gordon in seventh and Jimmie Johnson in eleventh after a late race pit road miscue but it was Kasey Kahne who earned all the bragging rights:

I never doubted myself…I was upset at some of the things that may have happened. I made a huge mistake at Phoenix and hit the wall there, but other than that, we were solid — we were fast. It was just a matter of getting past those [six] weeks and moving on and putting some solid races together. (Kasey Kahne via NASCAR)

Danica Patrick was also a part of history (sort of) by becoming the first woman since Janet Guthrie in 1976 to drive in the Coca-Cola 600.  She finished five laps down in 30th place which makes last night’s finish her best in three Sprint Cup starts.

Greg Biffle clearly had the dominant car of the race early on by leading 204 laps but ended up fourth overall after the sun went down in the Queen City of Charlotte, North Carolina.

However, last night wasn’t without its share of drama:  queue Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart.  It was merely an accident because Sprint Cup cars have blind spots on them (hello, spotters…where were you?) and Brad honestly didn’t see Smoke on pit road when the chaos ensued.

http://youtu.be/PNcVaJIilHg

However, in Brad’s defense (yes, you heard me right) Smoke’s car sucked all night long.  He’d worked hard just to get back on the lead lap when this spin happened under green flag pit stops.  So sorry, Tony but I’m not blaming your awesome car on why you had a terrible night last night.

Did Kes apologize for what he did?  Absolutely because the last thing he wanted to do was have our reigning Sprint Cup champion on his bad side:

He took the blame for it but I thought it was my fault…It’s one of those deals where you’re coming in and going out; it’s like being in a Wal-Mart parking lot and you’re both going for the same parking spot and sometimes things happen. (Brad Keselowski via Yahoo! Sports)

So we’ll see where this ends up in the coming weeks in the sands of the hours in the days of our lives.  To be continued…