BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kasey Kahne won his first career Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway after Brad Keselowski struggled on the final restart.

Tempers flared after the race when Joey Logano leaned inside the car window of former teammate Denny Hamlin to complain about Hamlin spinning him during the race. At the time, Logano had been racing Jeff Gordon for the lead.

Logano was pulled away from Hamlin’s car by crew members for both drivers in a classic post-Bristol clash that delighted the crowd. “They’re fighting! It’s Bristol!” yelled Clint Bowyer, who saw the action on the infield big screen.

Logano wouldn’t discuss what he told Hamlin.

“That is for me to know and Denny to know. Frustrating,” he said. “I had a really fast … Ford, and I felt like it was capable to win the race.”

Hamlin shrugged it all off.

“He said he was coming for me,” Hamlin said. “I usually don’t see him, so it’s usually not a factor.”

The two sparred briefly on Twitter after the season-opening Daytona 500, when Hamlin complained Logano ruined the closing laps of the race. But he said Sunday’s flap was not a carryover.

“It didn’t have anything to do with that,” Hamlin said. “You’ve really got to control your car and he slipped up into me. Really, he would have been in the garage with no radiator in it if I had not checked up twice. I meant to run in to him. I didn’t mean to spin him out, but his day was fine. We finished bad and he finished bad. It’s even.”

Their feuding may have played a role in the outcome of the race.

Keselowski was the leader on the final restart with 39 laps to go and lined up next to Kahne. Hamlin was lined up behind Keselowski, with Logano lined up behind Hamlin. When the flag waved, Keselowski didn’t go and Kahne rocketed to the lead and never looked back.

Although it appeared Keselowski spun his tires, he was adamant after the race about what happened – “I got ran over!” – and that prevented him from breaking away on the restart.

Hamlin backed up Keselowski’s account.

“The 22 (Logano) ran into me and shoved me into (Keselowski),” Hamlin said. “Sorry to the 2, but I was the pinball in the sandwich. Once he throttled up, the 22 lifted me up and just flat out pinned me up against the 2.”

Logano seemed to think Keselowski spun his tires and that created the bottleneck, but Keselowski believed he had help from behind.

“I haven’t seen the replay, I just know my rear tires were off the ground before I got to the restart zone,” he said. “Eventually I got hit so hard it pushed my foot in the gas pedal, made myself look like a (fool). That was the deal. Never had another chance.”

Nobody came close to Kahne, who drove his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to the win by 1.7-seconds. Hendrick drivers have now won two of the first four races this season.

Kyle Busch snagged second from Keselowski, who took over the Sprint Cup Series points lead as the only driver to open the season with four top-five finishes. Kurt Busch finished fourth and was followed by Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The race changed dramatically with 110 laps to go in a bizarre crash between leaders Gordon and Matt Kenseth. Gordon was out front when he suddenly lost a tire and his car darted up the track into the wall. Kenseth had nowhere to go to avoid him and drove directly into the back of Gordon, causing heavy damage to both cars.

“You all right?” crew chief Alan Gustafson radioed Gordon.

“Yeah, I’m OK. Did we take out Matt, too?” Gordon asked.

With the top two cars in the garage, the rest of the field headed to pit road to reset for the final 100 laps.

“I hate that for Matt Kenseth,” Gordon said. “He was coming, and it was just a matter of time before he caught us. We needed points. This definitely isn’t going to get us many.”

Kenseth, winner of last week’s race at Las Vegas, said the crash was unavoidable.

“There’s not a lot either one of us can do about that,” he said. “There was nowhere to go.”

Before the Gordon-Kenseth crash, Gordon and Logano were dueling for the lead. Gordon used a two-tire stop with about 175 laps to go to gain eight spots on pit road and take the lead. Logano chased Gordon around the 0.533-mile bullring, pulling even with the four-time champion as he exited the corners only to lose ground on the straights.

Food City 500 Results

Sunday, at Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol, Tenn., Lap length: .533 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (2) Kasey Kahne, Chevy, 500 laps, $171,760

2. (1) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 500, $188,893

3. (7) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500, $163,451

4. (19) Kurt Busch, Chevy, 500, $134,255

5. (23) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 500, $144,543

6. (32) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevy, 500, $115,185

7. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevy, 500, $135,368

8. (4) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 500, $107,385

9. (5) Paul Menard, Chevy, 500, $129,526

10. (6) Jamie McMurray, Chevy, 500, $126,030

11. (24) Greg Biffle, Ford, 500, $112,210

12. (9) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 500, $129,560

13. (29) A J Allmendinger, Chevy, 500, $123,418

14. (18) Kevin Harvick, Chevy, 500, $139,446

15. (15) Casey Mears, Ford, 500, $121,718

16. (28) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 500, $142,271

17. (10) Joey Logano, Ford, 500, $123,643

18. (21) Carl Edwards, Ford, 499, $130,035

19. (22) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 499, $122,449

20. (26) David Stremme, Toyota, 498, $110,318

21. (30) David Ragan, Ford, 498, $114,293

22. (13) Jimmie Johnson, Chevy, 498, $139,996

23. (3) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 498, $116,485

24. (14) David Gilliland, Ford, 496, $103,557

25. (43) Terry Labonte, Ford, 496, $94,260

26. (40) Josh Wise, Ford, 496, $93,485

27. (35) J.J. Yeley, Chevy, 495, $93,235

28. (41) Danica Patrick, Chevy, 495, $90,085

29. (38) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 490, $89,985

30. (17) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevy, 487, $121,349

31. (8) Tony Stewart, Chevy, 464, $135,660

32. (16) Jeff Burton, Chevy, 458, $99,260

33. (42) Landon Cassill, Chevy, 410, $88,710

34. (11) Jeff Gordon, Chevy, wreck, 390, $135,596

35. (12) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, wreck, 390, $123,601

36. (33) Dave Blaney, Chevy, wreck, 321, $88,560

37. (20) Aric Almirola, Ford, wreck, 245, $125,439

38. (37) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, engine, 234, $91,700

39. (25) David Reutimann, Toyota, engine, 184, $79,700

40. (27) Scott Speed, Ford, electrical, 184, $75,700

41. (39) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, engine, 159, $79,700

42. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, wreck, 26, $67,700

43. (36) Mike Bliss, Toyota, engine, 3, $64,200

Race Statistics: Average Speed of Race Winner: 92.206 mph. Time of Race: 2 hours, 53 minutes, 25 seconds. Margin of Victory: 1.700 seconds. Caution Flags: 10 for 66 laps. Lead Changes: 17 among 10 drivers. Lap Leaders: Ky.Busch 1-55; P.Menard 56; D.Ragan 57-58; K.Kahne 59-63; D.Hamlin 64-145; K.Kahne 146-153; Ku.Busch 154; D.Hamlin 155-189; K.Kahne 190-236; Ky.Busch 237; M.Kenseth 238-322; J.Logano 323; J.Gordon 324-389; K.Kahne 390-396; B.Keselowski 397-445; K.Kahne 446-447; B.Keselowski 448-460; K.Kahne 461-500. Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): D.Hamlin, 2 times for 117 laps; K.Kahne, 6 times for 109 laps; M.Kenseth, 1 time for 85 laps; J.Gordon, 1 time for 66 laps; B.Keselowski, 2 times for 62 laps; Ky.Busch, 2 times for 56 laps; D.Ragan, 1 time for 2 laps; Ku.Busch, 1 time for 1 lap; P.Menard, 1 time for 1 lap; J.Logano, 1 time for 1 lap. Top 12 in Points: 1. Bra.Keselowski, 166; 2. D.Earnhardt Jr., 157; 3. J.Johnson, 151; 4. C.Bowyer, 128; 5. G.Biffle, 126; 6. D.Hamlin, 125; 7. K.Kahne, 124; 8. C.Edwards, 124; 9. P.Menard, 118; 10. Ky.Busch, 115; 11. R.Stenhouse Jr., 115; 12. J.Logano, 104.