CONCORD, N.C. --- Kasey Kahne survived Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and in the process he broke a losing streak that dated to 2006.

By staying off the walls, keeping his engine and tires in one piece, and having just enough gasoline to finish, he was in position to take advantage of Tony Stewart's late-race problems.

Kahne, who won last week's non-points all-star race, was a quarter mile behind Stewart with three laps to go, but Stewart blew a tire and crawled onto pit road. Unlike the other leaders throughout the race, Kahne found a way to stay there.

"It's nice to be here," Kahne said. "We were where we needed to be. We took advantage. We had a lot to be excited about coming into the race. We stepped it up and put on a great show.

"There was no chance of catching (Stewart). I thought he had a chance to run out of gas. I couldn't believe he had a tire problem."

The race had several dominating runs, but most ended with brushes against the outside wall or problems on pit road.

Pole-sitter Kyle Busch led the first 46 laps, but he had problems with two different batteries. He dropped out of the top 10 after his team worked to fix the problem.

Kurt Busch led 64 laps in bright sunshine over the first 120 laps, but his Dodge hit the fourth turn wall and never threatened again.

Brian Vickers then was unstoppable as the lights came on, but a wheel sheered off his Toyota on the 186th lap. The impact not only broke a section of the SAFER barrier, but the wheel bounced into the infield and struck a camper. The speedway said nobody was injured.

Vickers led 61 laps and had all but 15 other drivers a lap down before he started to feel a vibration. The wheel came off before he had a chance to stop.

With Vickers in the garage and the speedway under the lights, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s turn to come to life. He set a course inches away from the outside wall, and that allowed him to carry a lot of momentum off the corners. He easily passed Kyle Busch on the 260th lap, and 10 laps later he was more than two football fields ahead. Ten laps after that, he had extended it to a quarter mile.

But just like Busch and Vickers before him, Earnhardt's run up front didn't last long. He blew a right-front tire and smacked the wall on the 297th lap. Despite severe impact, his team kept him on the lead lap with three quick stops during the caution.

Cautions for Patrick Carpentier's spin and debris sent everyone to pit road for service. Three-time 600 winner Jimmie Johnson gained track position by adding gas and not changing tires, but his old tires -- and a sour engine -- made it easy for Kyle Busch to take the lead with 54 laps remaining.

It was even easier for Kahne to drive past Kyle Busch with 39 to go. Everyone had to stop for gas in the final 15 laps, and Stewart's team had the stop timed perfectly. He stopped for only three seconds and it would have been enough to get his Toyota to the finish. But he didn't have enough tires; he blew his right-front tire two laps from an easy victory.