Kyle Busch and Toyota Dominate O’Reilly Challenge

Kyle Busch celebrates a record-tying 10 wins in a season in Texas Motor Speedway's Victory Lane after taking the checkered flag in the O'Reilly Challenge on Saturday. Busch tied the record of Sam Ard, who set the mark in 1983
Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Statistically, Kyle Busch is moving into rarified air, and on Saturday his generosity went there, too.

With defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards chasing him to the finish line in the 200-lap, 300-mile O'Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway, Busch won his 10th series race of 2008, tying Sam Ard's 1983 series record for wins in a season.

Moments after climbing from his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Busch announced his intention to donate $100,000 to Ard, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and accompanying financial difficulties.

"Sam Ard is one of the pioneers of this sport," Busch said. "To be tied with him is very special. We're going to be sending $100,000 his way to help him out. Hopefully, that'll help put a smile on his face."

The win was the 21st of Busch's career, tying him for 10th on the all-time list with Dale Earnhardt and Harry Gant. It also was Busch's 21st victory this year in NASCAR's top three series combined. He has eight Sprint Cup wins along with three in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

The unrivaled class of the field on Saturday, Busch led 174 laps. Edwards was closing fast on the final seven-lap green-flag run but ran out of time, finishing .253 seconds behind the winner. Edwards, however, gained 25 points on series leader Clint Bowyer, who finished sixth.

With two races left in the season — at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami — second-place Edwards trails Bowyer by 91 points.

Mark Martin ran third on Saturday, followed by Joey Logano, David Ragan and Bowyer. The No. 20 JGR Toyota, which has been driven by Busch, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Logano this season, leads the owners' standings by 54 points over the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driven exclusively by Bowyer.

Edwards took four tires on his final pit stop on Lap 181 to two for Busch and Martin. The move served Edwards well during the seven-lap run to the finish that followed a caution for Justin Allgaier's spin through the frontstretch grass on Lap 189.

"Those four tires were great," Edwards said. "Man, I needed about two more laps. There was no way we were going to catch Kyle on the same tires he had.

"We closed 25 points today. We've just got to go to Phoenix and do more."

Unfortunately for Bowyer, the handling on his Chevy began to deteriorate after the final restart.

"We had a better car than (Edwards) did," Bowyer said. "We just got a little tight there at the end. That last caution really hurt us."

Note: Busch doubled up on his Nationwide win at Texas in April to become the first driver to sweep both races at the speedway in the same year.

Results

FIN

ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 4 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Farm Bureau Insurance 195/10 200 Running
2 1 60 Carl Edwards Ford Save-A-Lot 175/5 200 Running
3 6 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet Delphi 165/0 200 Running
4 8 20 Joey Logano Toyota GameStop 165/5 200 Running
5 12 6 David Ragan Ford Discount Tire 155/0 200 Running
6 21 2 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 150/0 200 Running
7 14 88 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet U.S. Navy 146/0 200 Running
8 19 99 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 142/0 200 Running
9 25 59 Marcos Ambrose Ford Kingsford Tailgate at Home 138/0 200 Running
10 5 64 David Stremme Chevrolet LoanStar Title Loans 134/0 200 Running
11 29 00 Josh Wise Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 130/0 200 Running
12 33 7 Mike Wallace Toyota GEICO 127/0 200 Running
13 15 29 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express 124/0 200 Running
14 22 32 Denny Hamlin Toyota Hass Avocados from Mexico 121/0 200 Running
15 18 40 Juan Montoya Dodge Fastenal 118/0 199 Running
16 3 25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford Team Rensi Motorsports 115/0 199 Running
17 9 38 Jason Leffler Toyota Great Clips 112/0 198 Running
18 7 21 Stephen Leicht Chevrolet Prilosec OTC / Wal-Mart 109/0 198 Running
19 36 27 Jason Keller Ford Kleenex 106/0 198 Running
20 24 170 Mark Green Chevrolet Foretravel Motorcoach 103/0 198 Running
21 13 12 Justin Allgaier Dodge Mobil 1 100/0 198 Running
22 26 47 Kelly Bires Ford STP / O'Reilly Auto Parts 97/0 197 Running
23 35 9 Chase Miller * Dodge Motorola / Verizon Wireless 94/0 197 Running
24 43 30 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet NOS Energy Drink 91/0 197 Running
25 31 111 Scott Lagasse Jr. Chevrolet Jason Aldean / America's Incredible Pizza Company 88/0 196 Running
26 16 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet U.S. Border Patrol 85/0 196 Running
27 20 1 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 82/0 196 Running
28 23 66 Steve Wallace Chevrolet 5-Hour Energy 79/0 195 Running
29 2 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Camping World/ RVs.com 81/5 194 Running
30 27 22 Marc Davis Dodge Supercuts 73/0 194 Running
31 40 81 D.J. Kennington Dodge Mahindra Tractors 70/0 194 Running
32 38 24 Eric McClure Chevrolet Hefty Odorblock 67/0 193 Running
33 42 01 Danny Efland Chevrolet Lowery Plumbing / S&W Tile 64/0 191 Running
34 39 4 Derrike Cope Chevrolet JVC 61/0 178 Running
35 11 17 Jamie McMurray Ford CitiFinancial 58/0 175 Running
36 34 223 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet North Texas Pipe 55/0 77 Electrical
37 10 10 Brian Vickers Toyota Dollar General 52/0 52 Axle
38 41 52 Donnie Neuenberger Chevrolet Quaker City Casting 49/0 43 Accident
39 28 90 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 46/0 11 Ignition
40 37 161 Brandon Whitt Ford Specialty Racing 43/0 9 Fuel Pump
41 17 173 Kevin Lepage Dodge Derrike Cope Inc. 40/0 8 Ignition
42 30 35 Danny O'Quinn Jr. Ford Team Rensi Motorsports PE 5 Brakes
43 32 149 Kertus Davis Chevrolet In Memory of Kenneth Campbell 34/0 4 Brakes