Busch edges Logano for 37th Nationwide win

Posted on July 9th, 2010 by Stephen Rhodes in NASCAR - Nationwide Series - News/Rumors - Race Results

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(July 9, 2010)

JOLIET, Ill.—Kyle Busch won a Nationwide Series race Friday night he thought he had lost and left Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano frustrated and dejected.

In a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the Dollar General 300 three laps past its scheduled distance, Busch beat Logano on a restart on Lap 202 and held the lead until a caution for a wreck on the Chicagoland Speedway tri-oval froze the field and made Busch a winner in the series for the seventh time this year.

Busch got a break when series points leader Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel on the final caution lap before the last, abbreviated green-flag run. Keselowski’s misfortune allowed Busch to move to the front of the outside line, beside his teammate.

Busch was able to pin Logano to the bottom of the track and clear Logano for the win. The race ended under caution because the wreck occurred after Busch took the while flag to begin the final lap.

The victory was Busch’s 37th all time, breaking a tie for second with Kevin Harvick for career wins in the series. Rookie Brian Scott ran third, followed by his Braun Racing teammates David Reutimann and Jason Leffler, as Toyotas swept the top five positions.

Carl Edwards, second in the standings, came home sixth and trimmed Keselowski’s series lead from 277 points to 227. Keselowski finished 21st, one lap down.

Danica Patrick finished a career-best 24th in her fifth Nationwide start.

Busch said he likely would have finished second at best, had Keselowski not run out of fuel.

“I don’t think I would have had a shot to win the race,” Busch said. “It was going to take too much to get alongside of Joey, had the restart gone with Keselowski in place. … I couldn’t make the third lane work around the outside.

“I probably could have run second, legitimately. But the way it turned out, I didn’t have to deal with the 22 (Keselowski). Apparently, those Dodges make good horsepower, but they suck a lot of fuel.”

Logano, who won last year’s Nationwide race in his first start at the track, said he would have chosen the inside lane whether it was Keselowski or Busch lining up beside him.

“He did what he was supposed to do,” Logano said. “He drove down in the turn and got me loose. He beat me. I’m embarrassed more than anything else.”

Busch, who led a race-high 110 laps, took the lead for the first time on Lap 10 and dominated the race—despite a pit-road speeding call that required a pass-through penalty under green—until NASCAR threw a caution for debris in Turn 2 on Lap 141.

Logano took the lead on the subsequent restart on Lap 148 and remained out front in clean air.

“It’s over,” Busch moaned on Lap 172, trailing Logano by nearly a second. “There ain’t going to be another caution. The freakin’ race is over.”

As it turned out, Busch was wrong. NASCAR called a caution for debris on Lap 185, and Busch pitted for four tires and a track bar adjustment designed to loosen the handling of his Toyota. He got his chance to win the race when Trevor Bayne slammed the Turn 1 wall on Lap 196.

Below are the unofficial race results for the 2010 Dollar General 300:

FIN	ST	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	PTS/BNS	LAPS	STATUS
1	8	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	Z-Line Designs	195/10	203	Running
2	5	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	GameStop	175/5	203	Running
3	18	11	Brian Scott *	Toyota	AccuDoc Solutions	165/0	203	Running
4	29	10	David Reutimann	Toyota	Beringer Vineyards	160/0	203	Running
5	19	38	Jason Leffler	Toyota	Great Clips	155/0	203	Running
6	4	60	Carl Edwards	Ford	Fastenal	155/5	203	Running
7	1	33	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches	151/5	203	Running
8	20	32	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	Dollar General	142/0	203	Running
9	9	88	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Suave Men	138/0	203	Running
10	11	12	Justin Allgaier	Dodge	Verizon Wireless	139/5	203	Running
11	16	98	Paul Menard	Ford	Richmond Water Heaters / Menards	130/0	203	Running
12	23	66	Steve Wallace	Toyota	5-Hour Energy	127/0	203	Running
13	25	42	Parker Kligerman *	Dodge	Pelletier Brothers, Inc.	124/0	203	Running
14	36	15	Michael Annett	Toyota	Pilot Travel Centers	121/0	203	Running
15	33	87	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	HostGator.com	118/0	203	Running
16	35	62	Brendan Gaughan	Toyota	South Point Hotel & Casino	120/5	203	Running
17	21	16	Colin Braun *	Ford	Con-way Freight	112/0	203	Running
18	31	40	Mike Bliss	Chevrolet	Phillips Chevrolet	109/0	203	Running
19	6	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr. *	Ford	CitiFinancial	106/0	203	Running
20	10	70	Shelby Howard	Chevrolet	Foretravel Motorcoach	103/0	202	Running
21	2	22	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Discount Tire	105/5	202	Running
22	34	01	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	J Davis Motorsports.com	97/0	202	Running
23	37	34	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	Boss Industries	94/0	201	Accident
24	28	7	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	91/0	201	Running
25	40	21	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	Victory In Jesus	88/0	200	Running
26	32	27	Justin Lofton	Ford	WeekendWarriorsTV.com	85/0	200	Running
27	14	05	Willie Allen	Chevrolet	31-W Insulation	82/0	200	Running
28	39	28	Kenny Wallace	Chevrolet	Anderson’s Maple Syrup	79/0	200	Running
29	22	24	Eric McClure	Ford	Hefty Odorblock	76/0	200	Running
30	30	35	Jason Keller	Chevrolet	LubePro’s	73/0	199	Running
31	41	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	North Texas Pipe	70/0	198	Running
32	3	99	Trevor Bayne	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	67/0	197	Accident
33	38	09	Landon Cassill	Ford	RAB Racing	64/0	110	Vibration
34	42	43	Brad Baker	Ford	Pinnacle Truck and Trailer Sales	61/0	102	Vibration
35	15	81	Michael McDowell	Dodge	K-Love 94.3	58/0	100	Engine
36	7	1	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Pit Road Pets / Phoenix Construction	55/0	71	Tie Rod
37	12	156	Kevin Lepage	Toyota	RaceDaySponsor.com	52/0	34	Driveshaft
38	26	49	Mark Green	Chevrolet	GBM Maple Syrup Equipment	49/0	32	Susp.
39	17	91	David Gilliland	Chevrolet	D’Hondt Humphrey Motorsports	46/0	25	Electrical
40	24	37	Josh Wise	Ford	Curb Records	43/0	22	Overheating
41	13	90	Danny O’Quinn Jr.	Chevrolet	D’Hondt Humphrey Motorsports	40/0	20	Electrical
42	27	89	Johnny Chapman	Chevrolet	Victory In Jesus	37/0	4	Rearend
43	43	92	Dennis Setzer	Dodge	K-Automotive Motorsports	34/0	3	Ignition