Bush spins, Wimmer wins in Nashville
Busch dominated Saturday's Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway but lost control of his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota off Turn 4 after leading 125 of the first 162 laps.
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| Scott Wimmer celebrates winning the Pepsi 300 at the Nashville Superspeedway |
| Padraic Major/NASCAR |
That handed the lead to Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer, but RCR teammate Wimmer passed Bowyer for the lead with 20 laps to go to notch his first win in nearly five years.
Wimmer is also the first non-NASCAR Sprint Cup driver to win a NASCAR Nationwide Series race this season and the first since Jason Leffler won at O'Reilly Raceway Park last July.
"Stepping down and running a partial schedule in the Nationwide Series is not what I want to be doing, but those are the cards that are dealt to me right now," Wimmer said. "I'm with a great team with Richard
Childress Racing and have great teammates. You can struggle in a single-car operation or a lower-budget team, but that's not where any driver wants to be.
"I'm just trying to do the best I can for Richard right now, and hopefully, it'll fall that someday I can get back to racing Nationwide full time or Sprint Cup full time. But right now, I'm having a good time."
RCR has won the last two Nationwide Series races and swept the top three positions in last weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bowyer finished second Saturday, with the third RCR driver, Stephen Leicht, finishing 12th.
Wimmer, who helped RCR's No. 29 Chevrolet team to the owners championship last year, was winless in his last 57 races in the series and last scored a win in the series July 26, 2003 at Pikes Peak International Raceway.
Behind Wimmer and Bowyer were Carl Edwards in third, Brad Keselowski in fourth and Kelly Bires in fifth.
Sixth through 10th were David Stremme, Denny Hamlin, Cale Gale, David Reutimann and Nashville native Bobby Hamilton Jr.
Reutimann was running third when he had to pit for fuel with eight laps remaining. Wimmer, too, was close on gas, as his engine sputtered while he did celebratory burnouts.
"Extremely close," Wimmer's crew chief, Pat Smith, said. "We knew when that last caution came out, immediately when we went back [to green], I told Scott to start saving fuel then because I knew there was a chance [we were going to run out]. We were three laps short."
Busch led the first 61 laps after winning the pole by more than two-tenths of a second earlier in the day.
He lost the lead in the pits, with Bowyer's crew getting the No. 2 out first on Lap 62. Busch whipped into the lead two laps after the green flag waved, but Bowyer stayed with Busch and then passed him for the top spot on Lap 66.
Bowyer's Chevrolet was able to stay out front for 29 laps before Busch's car ran him back down, and he retook the lead on Lap 100.
Busch has now led 345 laps this season, yet is still without a victory.
"Just a stupid mistake on the driver's part," Busch said as he headed to his hauler.
RESULTS:
FIN, ST, CAR, DRIVER, MAKE, SPONSOR, PTS/BNS, LAPS, STATUS
1 14 29 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express 190/5 225 Running
2 7 2 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 175/5 225 Running
3 4 60 Carl Edwards Ford Scotts Miracle-Gro “It’s Gro Time" 165/0 225 Running
4 8 88 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet U.S. Navy 165/5 225 Running
5 5 47 Kelly Bires Ford Clorox 160/5 225 Running
6 11 64 David Stremme Chevrolet Atreus Homes & Communities 150/0 225 Running
7 21 32 Denny Hamlin Toyota Dollar General 146/0 225 Running
8 13 33 Cale Gale * Chevrolet Camping World/ RVs.com 142/0 225 Running
9 19 99 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 138/0 224 Running
10 17 25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford Smithfield 134/0 224 Running
11 2 22 Mike Bliss Dodge Supercuts 130/0 224 Running
12 6 21 Stephen Leicht Chevrolet Racing Gearz 127/0 224 Running
13 23 38 Jason Leffler Toyota Great Clips 124/0 224 Running
14 16 9 Chase Miller * Dodge Valvoline 121/0 224 Running
15 9 16 Colin Braun Ford CitiFinancial 118/0 224 Running
16 1 20 Kyle Busch Toyota Z-Line Designs 125/10 223 Running
17 18 40 Bryan Clauson * Dodge Fastenal 112/0 223 Running
18 25 111 Jason Keller Chevrolet America’s Incredible Pizza Company 109/0 223 Running
19 22 5 Landon Cassill * Chevrolet Nat’l Guard / 128th Military Police Co. 106/0 223 Running
20 24 7 Mike Wallace Toyota GEICO 103/0 223 Running
21 26 6 David Ragan Ford Coats / Discount Tire 100/0 223 Running
22 20 1 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 97/0 222 Running
23 15 59 Marcos Ambrose Ford Kingsford Hickory Charcoal 94/0 222 Running
24 3 66 Steve Wallace Chevrolet Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches 91/0 222 Running
25 31 41 Kyle Krisiloff Dodge Polaroid 88/0 221 Running
26 29 170 Mark Green Chevrolet Foretravel Motorcoach 85/0 221 Running
27 10 27 Brad Coleman Ford Cottonelle BKB 82/0 221 Running
28 12 37 Brad Baker Ford Make-A-Wish Foundation 79/0 219 Running
29 27 161 Kevin Lepage Ford Skeets 76/0 218 Running
30 34 01 Kertus Davis Chevrolet RaceGirl 73/0 218 Running
31 30 24 Eric McClure Chevrolet Hefty 70/0 218 Running
32 32 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet U.S. Border Patrol 67/0 217 Running
33 38 195 Willie Allen Dodge Wide Open Energy Drink 64/0 216 Running
34 28 81 D.J. Kennington Dodge Mahindra Tractors / NPPL 61/0 216 Running
35 42 4 Robert Richardson, II Chevrolet “Card Games" on Phantom EFX 58/0 211 Running
36 41 84 Mike Harmon Chevrolet James Otto / Muzik Mafia 55/0 72 Out of Race
37 35 0 Danny Efland Chevrolet Lori Morgan 52/0 61 Out of Race
38 33 89 Morgan Shepherd Dodge Victory In Jesus 49/0 54 Out of Race
39 39 90 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 46/0 46 Out of Race
40 40 52 Derrike Cope Chevrolet Hilton Garden Inn 43/0 38 Out of Race
41 43 255 Brad Teague Ford Bennett Classics Museum 40/0 29 Out of Race
42 37 91 Larry Gunselman Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 37/0 23 Out of Race
43 36 05 Brett Rowe Chevrolet 31-W Insulation / CertainTeed 34/0 9 Out of Race