Fontana: Busch, Toyota spank NASCAR field

Give Kyle Busch credit for being a quick study.

Nudged out of the way and deprived of a win by Carl Edwards in last Saturday's Sprint Cup race at Bristol, Busch didn't let Edwards anywhere near his rear bumper in the closing laps of Saturday night's Camping World RV Service 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway.

Kyle Busch (No. 18) and Carl Edwards (No. 60) cross the finish line under caution as their rivalry continued in the Camping World RV Service 300
Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

After a restart with eight laps remaining, Busch pulled away, as he had done consistently all night long, to hold off his nemesis and win the race under caution when Josh Wise wrecked on the white-flag lap.

The victory was Busch's seventh of the season in the series and the 18th of his career. Busch now has 18 victories in NASCAR's top three series this season — eight in Cup, seven in Nationwide and three in the Craftsman Truck Series. He now has won in all three series at Auto Club Speedway along with Mark Martin. Those seven Nationwide wins combined with eight NASCAR Sprint Cup victories and three wins in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series gives Busch a total of 18 wins this season which is now an official all time NASCAR record.

Busch led 144 of the 150 laps and became the first driver to win from the pole in 17 Nationwide events at the two-mile track.

"This thing was flawless tonight," Busch said of his No. 18 Toyota. "It was just amazing."

Edwards' runner-up finish allowed the defending series champion to retain third place in the standings, 222 points behind Clint Bowyer, who finished seventh. Brian Vickers ran third, followed by Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray and Joey Logano.

Debris from Jason Leffler's Toyota caused the fourth caution of the race on Lap 138 and set up an eight-lap run that ended short of the finish line, thanks to Wise's accident. Busch pulled away to a lead of more than .6 second on Lap 143 and remained comfortably ahead the rest of the way until the race was slowed by the fifth and final caution.

Busch dedicated the victory to crew chief Jason Ratcliff, who, along with six other members of the Joe Gibbs Racing organization, is serving an indefinite suspension for trying to manipulate horsepower readings two weeks ago at Michigan. Doug Hewitt is serving as crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota during the suspension.

Note: An electrical problem forced Brad Keselowski to the garage on Lap 106, and after repairs, he returned to the track 21 laps down. With a 33rd-place finish, Keselowski remained second in the series standings but 204 points behind Bowyer.

Results

FIN

ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 1 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Z-Line Designs 195/10 150 Running
2 4 60 Carl Edwards Ford Save-A-Lot 170/0 150 Running
3 11 32 Brian Vickers Toyota Seymour of Sycamore / ABF 165/0 150 Running
4 2 29 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express 165/5 150 Running
5 7 17 Jamie McMurray Ford CitiFinancial 155/0 150 Running
6 3 20 Joey Logano Toyota GameStop 150/0 150 Running
7 10 2 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 151/5 150 Running
8 13 99 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 142/0 150 Running
9 14 6 David Ragan Ford America's Tire / Discount Tire 138/0 150 Running
10 17 64 David Stremme Chevrolet Kenwood 134/0 150 Running
11 9 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Camping World/ RVs.com 135/5 150 Running
12 6 1 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 127/0 150 Running
13 15 47 Kelly Bires Ford ICP 129/5 150 Running
14 27 111 Jason Keller Chevrolet K&N Filters 121/0 150 Running
15 12 59 Marcos Ambrose Ford Kingsford Hickory Charcoal 118/0 147 Running
16 26 7 Mike Wallace Toyota GEICO 115/0 147 Running
17 5 5 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Jimmie Johnson Foundation / Lowe's 112/0 147 Running
18 22 40 Bryan Clauson * Dodge Fastenal 109/0 147 Running
19 18 25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford Smithfield 106/0 147 Running
20 21 66 Steve Wallace Chevrolet Oakley 103/0 147 Running
21 25 30 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet NOS Energy Drink 100/0 147 Running
22 19 22 Josh Wise Dodge Supercuts 97/0 147 Running
23 8 9 Chase Miller * Dodge Ragu 94/0 146 Running
24 28 81 Kevin Hamlin Dodge Mahindra Tractors 91/0 145 Running
25 23 161 Brandon Whitt Ford Specialty Racing 88/0 145 Running
26 16 38 Jason Leffler Toyota Great Clips 85/0 145 Running
27 39 01 Danny Efland Chevrolet SponsorDavis.com 82/0 144 Running
28 37 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet U.S. Border Patrol 79/0 144 Running
29 34 283 John Borneman III Ford Twisted X Boots / Red Line Oil 76/0 145 Running
30 35 4 Derrike Cope Chevrolet JVC 73/0 143 Running
31 20 27 David Gilliland Ford Huggies / Stater Bros. 70/0 142 Running
32 38 24 Eric McClure Chevrolet Hefty 67/0 140 Running
33 24 88 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet U.S. Navy 69/5 127 Running
34 30 89 Morgan Shepherd Dodge Racing With Jesus 61/0 48 Handling
35 36 05 Burney Lamar Ford 31-W Insulation / CertainTeed 58/0 39 Electrical
36 43 0 Larry Gunselman Chevrolet SponsorDavis.com 55/0 26 Rear End
37 29 331 Kenny Hendrick Chevrolet INTERUSH.net 52/0 23 Vibration
38 41 91 Justin Hobgood Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 49/0 20 Electrical
39 40 90 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 46/0 17 Vibration
40 42 52 Scott Gaylord Chevrolet Blaha Construction 43/0 14 Engine
41 31 173 Kevin Lepage Dodge Derrike Cope Inc. 40/0 8 Fuel Pump
42 32 178 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Derrike Cope Inc. 37/0 4 Transmission
43 33 149 Kertus Davis Chevrolet Jay Robinson Inc. 34/0 2 Electrical