Kyle Busch Makes History With Stater Bros. 300 Win

Hours after winning a Camping World Truck Series race in a runaway, Kyle Busch staged a repeat performance in Saturday night's Stater Bros. 300 Nationwide Series event at Auto Club Speedway.

"It's awesome," Busch said after climbing out of his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. "This is just a blast. It's pretty special to beat guys like Carl [Edwards] and Kevin [Harvick]. To win here twice in one day is even more special."

In claiming the 22nd Nationwide Series victory of his career, Busch became the first driver ever to win two races in any of NASCAR's top three series on the same day. Busch had come close once before, finishing second to Jamie McMurray by .005 seconds in a July 2007 Cup race at Daytona after winning a rain-delayed Nationwide race earlier in the day.

On Sunday, he'll try for another record -- a weekend sweep of NASCAR's top three series at the same race track.

About the only suspense came on a restart on Lap 135, after Edwards beat Busch off pit road following the final stops for both cars. Busch dived to the inside of Edwards' Ford, and Harvick made it three-wide through the corner before Busch regained the lead through Turns 3 and 4.

From that point, Busch pulled away and crossed the finish line 1.011 seconds ahead of Harvick and almost the same margin he had in beating Todd Bodine in the Truck race.

Joey Logano, Busch's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, finished third, followed by pole-sitter Edwards and his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, David Ragan.

Jeff Burton, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers, series rookie Brendan Gaughan and Steve Wallace completed the top 10.

"It was a blast," Busch said. "We were just glad to put on a great show. It got a little nerve-wracking there on that last restart but that's what the fans come to see."

Harvick tried to seize the opportunity but couldn't force his way past Busch and Edwards.

"I was able to sneak by Kyle and Carl when they got together there [on the restart] -- at least that's what it looked like from my perspective. I just couldn't quite complete the pass there."

Busch, who led 143 of the 150 laps, obliterated the field during the first green-flag run, streaking to an advantage of more than 8 seconds before pitting from the lead on Lap 40. After the cycle of green-flag stops, Busch led Harvick by as much as 11.486 seconds before Michael McDowell's fiery crash in Turn 2 caused the first caution of the race on Lap 52.

By then, 14 of the 43 cars that had started the race were on the lead lap.

"Definitely, the best car won -- that's for sure," said Edwards, who fell back after battling Busch and Harvick on the final restart. "That was amazing. Kyle was just in a league of his own [Saturday night], so it was tough to be able to hang with him for most of the night."

The victory came in the first race back for crew chief Jason Ratcliff, suspended along with fellow crew chief Dave Rogers for the final 10 races of last season and Daytona after the Gibbs team was caught trying to manipulate the results of an engine dynomometer test at Michigan.

"I've been dreaming about this," Ratcliff said. "It's a heck of a way to come back."

 

2009 Stater Bros. 300 Final Results

Results Saturday from the Stater Bros. 300 race for NASCAR's Nationwide Series at Auto Club Speedway, listing starting position in parentheses, driver, car, reason out if not running at the finish, laps completed, driver rating, points and money won:

1. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 150 laps, 150 rating, 195 pts, $76,820.

2. (9) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 150, 117.4, 170, $60,525.

3. (7) Joey Logano, Toyota, 150, 107, 165, $56,893.

4. (1) Carl Edwards, Ford, 150, 120.9, 165, $44,150.

5. (8) David Ragan, Ford, 150, 106.6, 155, $34,375.

6. (6) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 150, 115.8, 150, $31,325.

7. (29) David Reutimann, Toyota, 150, 96.1, 146, $28,275.

8. (12) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 150, 105, 142, $26,825.

9. (11) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 150, 90.7, 138, $35,903.

10. (15) Steve Wallace, Chevrolet, 150, 87.6, 134, $35,493.

11. (18) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 150, 86.9, 130, $32,393.

12. (23) Scott Lagasse Jr., Toyota, 150, 83.7, 127, $32,143.

13. (4) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 150, 95.1, 124, $32,943.

14. (17) Justin Allgaier, Dodge, 150, 88.4, 121, $31,808.

15. (10) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 150, 80.7, 118, $26,055.

16. (42) Michael Annett, Toyota, 149, 65.8, 115, $31,563.

17. (19) Jason Keller, Ford, 149, 74.5, 112, $31,353.

18. (36) David Green, Toyota, 149, 67.1, 109, $31,518.

19. (27) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, 149, 68.9, 106, $31,108.

20. (24) Ken Butler, Chevrolet, 149, 68.4, 103, $31,498.

21. (30) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 149, 61.6, 100, $31,238.

22. (14) John Wes Townley, Ford, 148, 64, 97, $30,753.

23. (20) Brandon Whitt, Ford, 147, 65.3, 94, $31,068.

24. (25) D.J. Kennington, Dodge, 147, 53.7, 91, $30,508.

25. (26) Kertus Davis, Chevrolet, 146, 49, 88, $24,055.

26. (32) Kenny Hendrick, Dodge, 146, 45.1, 85, $30,263.

27. (13) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 145, 78.8, 87, $30,128.

28. (43) Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 145, 38.4, 79, $23,540.

29. (31) Brian Keselowski, Dodge, 145, 44.8, 76, $23,390.

30. (38) Eric McClure, Ford, 145, 37, 73, $30,048.

31. (37) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 143, 48.4, 70, $29,638.

32. (40) Scott Gaylord, Chevrolet, 143, 37.6, 67, $29,528.

33. (33) Danny O'Quinn Jr., Chevrolet, 134, 42.7, 64, $22,950.

34. (5) Greg Biffle, Ford, accident, 127, 90.7, 61, $23,190.

35. (28) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, rear end, 61, 55.5, 58, $22,730.

36. (3) Michael McDowell, Toyota, accident, 50, 63.1, 55, $29,838.

37. (16) Terry Cook, Chevrolet, ignition, 15, 41.7, 52, $28,973.

38. (35) J.C. Stout, Chevrolet, overheating, 13, 36.7, 49, $22,395.

39. (39) Johnny Chapman, Chevrolet, ignition, 10, 34.5, 46, $28,808.

40. (22) Casey Atwood, Chevrolet, rear end, 5, 34.6, 43, $22,305.

41. (41) Justin Ashburn, Chevrolet, ignition, 5, 28.9, 40, $28,713.

42. (21) Dennis Setzer, Dodge, vibration, 3, 32.4, 37, $22,165.

43. (34) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, vibration, 3, 30.8, 34, $22,127.

***

Race statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 137.178 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 11 minutes, 13 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 1.11 seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 23 laps.

Lead Changes: 6 among 3 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K.Busch 1-39; C.Edwards 40; Bra.Keselowski 41-42; K.Busch 43-130; C.Edwards 131-134; K.Busch 135-150.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Busch, 3 times for 143 laps; C.Edwards, 2 times for 5 laps; Bra.Keselowski, 1 time for 2 laps.

Top 10 in Points: 1. K.Busch, 360; 2. C.Edwards, 340; 3. K.Harvick, 305; 4. D.Ragan, 297; 5. B.Vickers, 297; 6. D.Reutimann, 273; 7. J.Logano, 268; 8. B.Gaughan, 256; 9. J.Keller, 255; 10. G.Biffle, 221.