Kyle Busch wins PIR Busch race
The victory, coupled with his Craftsman Truck Series win at Phoenix on Friday night, put Busch in position to record an unprecedented triple in Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 Nextel Cup event — winning a race in each of NASCAR's top three national series at the same track on the same weekend.
In his final Busch Series start for Hendrick Motorsports, Busch led all but one of the last 116 laps (132 overall), collected his fourth win of the year and his 11th in the series. Despite problems with his power steering, Kenseth posted his seventh runner-up finish of the season.
Balky power steering wasn't Kenseth's only problem. The right rear quarter panel of his No. 17 Ford was found to be too high during post-race inspection. If any penalties are forthcoming, NASCAR will announce them during the coming week.
Polesitter Clint Bowyer was third, and Scott Wimmer ran fourth in the No. 29 Chevrolet, failing by two points to clinch the owners' championship for Richard Childress Racing. With a 194-point lead over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy, Jeff Burton, who will drive the No. 29 next week in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, can clinch the owners' title for Childress simply by starting the race.
Though he will start 38th in Sunday's Cup race, Busch believes he has a chance to complete the weekend sweep.
"It would mean the most," said Busch, who was scheduled to fly to Las Vegas after Saturday's race to compete in a 140-lap late model stock car race in his hometown. "It would be a great honor to have that. I wouldn't have it any other way, but it's a hard race with the COT (Car of Tomorrow), so you've got to be able to get out front. You've got to have a good enough car, and you've got to get track position.
"I think we zeroed in on some things in practice today that really helped our car and made it at least where it's a top-five or top-10-capable car. There are still some pretty good guys out there that we're going to have to race against."
Saturday's race was red-flagged for the second time on Lap 198 because of a violent frontstretch crash involving David Ragan, Richard Johns, Stanton Barrett and Dario Franchitti. After an 11-minute stoppage, Busch took the green flag for the green-white-checkered finish.
Busch took the lead for the third time on Lap 85 when he powered the No. 5 Chevrolet beneath Kenseth in Turn 1. That pass took place during a green-flag run that began on Lap 49 and ended with a debris caution on Lap 116. (Kenseth led Lap 117 on pit road, but Busch was out first to retake the lead, which he held for the rest of the race.
Through two subsequent cautions, the second for a frontstretch pileup involving Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Steve Wallace and Jason Keller on an aborted restart on Lap 138, Busch remained out front.
NASCAR red-flagged the race for six minutes after the Lap 138 incident, and Busch led the field to the green flag for a restart on Lap 142, with Bowyer and Kenseth in pursuit. After a caution for Franchitti's spin on the backstretch on Lap 148 — thanks to a bump from Brad Keselowski — Kenseth passed Bowyer for second position on Lap 152.
Though Kenseth harried Busch over a subsequent 19-lap green-flag run, Busch held off the Roush Fenway driver for the remainder of the race.
Kenseth didn't blame his inability to catch Busch on his sluggish power steering.
"It slowed us down a little bit," Kenseth said, "but it probably wasn't the difference between us winning and losing."
Results
|
FIN |
ST | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | PTS/BNS | LAPS | STATUS |
| 1 | 4 | 5 | Kyle Busch | Chevrolet | Sta-Green / Lowe's | 195/10 | 203 | Running |
| 2 | 9 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Arby's | 175/5 | 203 | Running |
| 3 | 1 | 2 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | BB&T | 170/5 | 203 | Running |
| 4 | 2 | 29 | Scott Wimmer | Chevrolet | Holiday Inn | 165/5 | 203 | Running |
| 5 | 6 | 21 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | AutoZone | 155/0 | 203 | Running |
| 6 | 3 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Dodge | Wrigley's Doublemint | 155/5 | 203 | Running |
| 7 | 28 | 60 | Carl Edwards | Ford | World Financial Group | 146/0 | 203 | Running |
| 8 | 30 | 38 | Jason Leffler | Toyota | Great Clips / Comcast | 142/0 | 203 | Running |
| 9 | 5 | 126 | Jamie McMurray | Ford | Dish Network | 138/0 | 203 | Running |
| 10 | 19 | 77 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | Dollar General | 134/0 | 203 | Running |
| 11 | 18 | 1 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Miccosukee Resort & Gaming | 130/0 | 203 | Running |
| 12 | 15 | 99 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron's Dream Machine | 127/0 | 203 | Running |
| 13 | 16 | 41 | A.J. Allmendinger | Dodge | Imation | 124/0 | 203 | Running |
| 14 | 27 | 344 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | Aaron's / Best Western | 121/0 | 203 | Running |
| 15 | 38 | 59 | Marcos Ambrose * | Ford | Kingsford / Bashas' | 118/0 | 203 | Running |
| 16 | 11 | 18 | Brad Coleman * | Chevrolet | Carino's Italian Grill | 115/0 | 203 | Running |
| 17 | 23 | 7 | Mike Wallace | Chevrolet | GEICO | 112/0 | 203 | Running |
| 18 | 13 | 33 | Tony Raines | Chevrolet | RoadLoans.com | 109/0 | 203 | Running |
| 19 | 10 | 90 | Stephen Leicht | Ford | CitiFinancial | 106/0 | 203 | Running |
| 20 | 7 | 27 | Robby Gordon | Ford | Huggies / Bashas' | 103/0 | 203 | Running |
| 21 | 22 | 88 | Brad Keselowski * | Chevrolet | U.S. Navy | 100/0 | 203 | Running |
| 22 | 26 | 47 | Kelly Bires | Ford | Clorox / Am. Red Cross / Bashas' | 97/0 | 203 | Running |
| 23 | 12 | 6 | David Ragan * | Ford | Discount Tire | 94/0 | 203 | Running |
| 24 | 31 | 35 | Bobby Hamilton Jr. | Ford | McDonald's | 91/0 | 203 | Running |
| 25 | 34 | 14 | Kyle Krisiloff * | Ford | Lilly / Walgreens | 88/0 | 202 | Running |
| 26 | 37 | 37 | John Graham | Ford | Kickbutt Amped Energy Ballz | 85/0 | 201 | Running |
| 27 | 21 | 10 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Fort McDowell Resort Destination | 82/0 | 199 | Running |
| 28 | 14 | 20 | Denny Hamlin | Chevrolet | Rockwell Automation | 84/5 | 199 | Running |
| 29 | 8 | 42 | Dario Franchitti | Dodge | Target | 76/0 | 198 | Off Track |
| 30 | 40 | 25 | Richard Johns | Ford | Freedom isn't Free / FreeCreditReport.com | 73/0 | 197 | Off Track |
| 31 | 32 | 230 | Stanton Barrett | Chevrolet | PHYTTER Phone / INTERUSH | 70/0 | 197 | Off Track |
| 32 | 20 | 22 | Mike Bliss | Dodge | Supercuts | 67/0 | 182 | Out of Race |
| 33 | 39 | 28 | Blake Bjorklund | Chevrolet | Kibbles 'n Bits / U.S. Border Patrol | 64/0 | 180 | Running |
| 34 | 17 | 24 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Nat'l Guard / 40th Infantry Brigade | 61/0 | 170 | Running |
| 35 | 25 | 211 | Jason Keller | Chevrolet | InvestLinc | 58/0 | 139 | Out of Race |
| 36 | 24 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M Scotch-Blue Painter's Tape | 60/5 | 138 | Out of Race |
| 37 | 41 | 66 | Steve Wallace | Dodge | HomeLife Communities | 52/0 | 138 | Out of Race |
| 38 | 42 | 36 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | McGill Motorsports | 49/0 | 35 | Out of Race |
| 39 | 29 | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr. * | Dodge | Kodak | 46/0 | 24 | Out of Race |
| 40 | 36 | 113 | Todd Souza | Chevrolet | Central Coast Cabinets | 43/0 | 22 | Out of Race |
| 41 | 35 | 01 | Kertus Davis | Chevrolet | RaceGirl | 40/0 | 19 | Out of Race |
| 42 | 43 | 156 | Frank Kreyer | Chevrolet | Culver's Restaurants | 37/0 | 9 | Out of Race |
| 43 | 33 | 72 | D.J. Kennington | Dodge | Northern Provincial Pipelines | 34/0 | 8 | Out of Race |