Busch races to 8th NASCAR Nationwide Series win

DOVER, Del. — Kyle Busch’s latest NASCAR victory came like so many of the first 18.

Pretty easily.

Busch made it eight victories this season in the Nationwide Series, leading 157 laps and absolutely dominating to win Saturday in a green-white-checkered flag finish at Dover International Speedway.

“It was a pretty flawless day for us,” Busch said. “We made it look easy.”

Snohomish, Wash., native Kevin Hamlin, driving the No.81 for MacDonald Motorsports, finished 21st after qualifying 34th. Previously, Hamlin the same car to a 24th place finish a few weeks ago at Auto Club Speedway in California.

That was win No. 19 this season for Busch in the Nationwide, Trucks and Sprint Cup races. No one is having a season like Busch, even though his 34th-place finish in the Cup race last week dropped him from first to eighth in the points standings.

“I think we’re all tired of hearing about Kyle Busch,” said runner-up Mike Bliss, chuckling. “I’d boo, too.”

Starting from the pole, Busch was never really challenged and pulled ahead by a couple of car lengths on the final restart late in an overtime race that stretched to 207 laps. He won in the same No. 18 Toyota that his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin drove to Victory Lane in May.

And he did it with a new crew chief.

With JGR crew chief Jason Ratcliff suspended indefinitely for cheating, Busch won by what he termed a “crew chief by committee.” This time, it was Joel Weidman who got credit for the win. Steve Addington, Busch’s crew chief in the Cup series, was on the pit box acting as an advisory role.

Busch was impressed with Weidman’s debut.

“He did a great job calling the race today,” he said. “We’ve got to say hey to the guys watching at home.”

Brad Keselowski was third. Scott Wimmer and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.

Points leader Clint Bowyer was involved in a pit-road accident with Edwards and David Reutimann at the halfway mark and severely damaged the front fenders of his No. 2 Chevrolet. But Bowyer rallied to finish 10th and holds a 186-point lead over Edwards.

“We’ve got to finish in front of Clint every week,” Edwards said. “I’d really like to just race him and beat him. He was running well and that (accident) kind of ruined his day. It worked out for us, but it won’t always work out like that if we keep running into people.”

Busch was cruising when Landon Cassill and Steven Wallace collided on lap 199 — the race was scheduled for 200 — which brought out the seventh caution and extended the race seven more laps. The race could have gone another seven or 70 laps and no driver would have caught Busch with the way he was running.

“It’s definitely been a phenomenal season, and something to really cherish,” he said.

Bliss hasn’t won this season and wished he could have had a shot at victory without Busch in the field.

“Why’d he pick this race to run,” said Bliss, chuckling. “We’re so close to winning. We’re going to get it.”

Saturday at Dover International Speedway

Dover, Del.

Lap length: 1 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (1) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 207 laps, 150 rating, 195 points, $50,595.

2. (5) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 207, 125.2, 175, $45,718.

3. (12) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 207, 105.3, 165, $31,293.

4. (10) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, 207, 111, 165, $28,243.

5. (8) Carl Edwards, Ford, 207, 99, 155, $21,000.

6. (3) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 207, 108.5, 150, $18,500.

7. (16) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 207, 105.3, 146, $26,228.

8. (7) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 207, 105, 142, $18,020.

9. (4) David Ragan, Ford, 207, 90.6, 138, $17,175.

10. (22) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 207, 86.7, 134, $18,275.

11. (27) David Stremme, Chevrolet, 207, 79.4, 130, $23,043.

12. (19) Mike Wallace, Toyota, 207, 85.7, 127, $23,268.

13. (18) Josh Wise, Dodge, 207, 78.9, 124, $23,218.

14. (9) Joey Logano, Toyota, 207, 89.4, 121, $22,693.

15. (14) Bobby Hamilton Jr., Ford, 207, 77.6, 118, $23,368.

16. (13) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 207, 76.7, 115, $22,543.

17. (20) David Reutimann, Toyota, 207, 89.6, 112, $16,000.

18. (11) Steve Wallace, Chevrolet, 207, 81, 109, $22,418.

19. (17) Jason Keller, Ford, 207, 70.3, 106, $22,368.

20. (29) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, 205, 61, 103, $23,118.

21. (34) Kevin Hamlin, Dodge, 204, 53, 100, $22,468.

22. (28) Morgan Shepherd, Dodge, 204, 58.2, 97, $15,700.

23. (26) Brandon Whitt, Ford, 202, 47.4, 94, $22,793.

24. (37) Eric McClure, Chevrolet, 201, 41.9, 91, $22,043.

25. (25) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, accident, 199, 64.3, 88, $23,168.

26. (36) Danny Efland, Chevrolet, suspension, 196, 42.1, 85, $21,943.

27. (31) Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 191, 47.7, 82, $21,893.

28. (6) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 163, 95.7, 79, $15,375.

29. (30) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, engine, 149, 45.1, 76, $21,768.

30. (21) John Wes Townley, Ford, engine, 143, 53, 73, $15,250.

31. (23) Scott Lagasse Jr., Chevrolet, accident, 138, 57.2, 70, $21,913.

32. (39) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, suspension, 115, 39.3, 67, $21,603.

33. (15) Bryan Clauson, Dodge, accident, 97, 60.3, 69, $21,543.

34. (2) Kelly Bires, Ford, accident, 70, 90.9, 61, $21,508.

35. (24) Burney Lamar, Ford, electrical, 26, 51.1, 58, $15,010.

36. (41) Larry Gunselman, Chevrolet, handling, 19, 36.1, 55, $14,985.

37. (32) Kertus Davis, Chevrolet, brakes, 10, 38.2, 52, $14,965.

38. (38) Johnny Chapman, Chevrolet, rear end, 9, 34.5, 49, $14,900.

39. (33) Kevin Lepage, Dodge, rear end, 7, 38.7, 46, $14,865.

40. (35) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, rear end, 4, 34, 43, $14,815.

41. (40) Kenny Hendrick, Chevrolet, electrical, 2, 33.9, 40, $14,795.

42. (43) Justin Hobgood, Chevrolet, ignition, 1, 32.4, 37, $14,760.

43. (42) Donnie Neuenberger, Chevrolet, handling, 1, 30.8, 34, $21,174.

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 107.084 mph.

Time of Race: 1 hour, 55 minutes, 59 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.866 seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 34 laps.

Lead Changes: 5 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K.Busch 1-72; B.Clauson 73; K.Busch 74-98; M.Bliss 99-142; S.Wimmer 143-147; K.Busch 148-207.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Busch, 3 times for 157 laps; M.Bliss, 1 time for 44 laps; S.Wimmer, 1 time for 5 laps; B.Clauson, 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 10 in Points

1. C.Bowyer, 4,222; 2. C.Edwards, 4,036; 3. Bra.Keselowski, 3,974; 4. M.Bliss, 3,779; 5. D.Ragan, 3,721; 6. D.Reutimann, 3,676; 7. K.Busch, 3,673; 8. M.Wallace, 3,381; 9. J.Leffler, 3,348; 10. M.Ambrose, 3,321.

NASCAR Driver Rating Formula

A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.