Kasey Kahne had an early night at the 2012 Budweiser Shootout exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night. The evening was marred by four huge crashes, the first of which wiped out Kahne's car in just the eighth lap of the race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick also had their cars destroyed, but the scariest crash of the evening happened with just two laps to go, as Jeff Gordon traveled for 1,000 feet on his driver's side door after hitting the wall and rolled his car several times before it came to a stop on its roof. Gordon was able to walk away from the crash and seemed in good spirits following the race.
Kyle Busch avoided at least two incidents that looked like they would end in certain crashes, including being involved in the beginning of the crash that rolled Gordon. Busch not only survivded those scares, he picked up the win down the stretch as he passed Tony Stewart right at the finish line for the closest finish in the history of the Budweiser Shootout exhibition race.
Kahne will be right back out on the track at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, as he races in the Daytona 500 Qualifier for next week's Daytona 500 race that will kick off the 2012 Sprint Cup season.
For more on the Great American Race, check out SB Nation NASCAR's Daytona 500 stream, as well as NASCAR Ranting & Raving.