“Wild Thing” Wins Wild Race At Las Vegas

 

Kyle Busch has had plenty of highlights in his short NASCAR career: setting a record as the youngest winner in series history, giving Toyota its first victory and returning Joe Gibbs Racing's flagship car to prominence.

None of it compared to winning at home.

Busch notched the biggest win of his young career Sunday by driving from the back of the field to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his hometown track.

Although there are far more hallowed tracks in NASCAR, this 1.5-mile oval in the desert was where "The Wild Thing" most wanted to win. He proved that with an elaborate victory celebration that ended with him on his knees, kissing the finish line.

"I tell you what, this is pretty cool," Busch said. "I didn't know exactly what it would mean, but coming to the checkered flag, there were knots in my stomach. It's bigger than winning the Daytona 500. I said it wasn't going to be, but it is."

Busch struggled in his first visit to Vegas, wrecking 11 laps into his Cup debut race and finishing 41st.

He bounced back to compete for the wins the next to seasons, but settled for second- and third-place finishes to then-teammate Jimmie Johnson. His best chance might have been last year, when he returned home leading the points for the first time in his career and won the pole. But he struggled with the handling on his JGR Toyota, and wound up 11th.

This year, he wouldn't be denied.

Busch came prepared at the start of the weekend, beating big brother Kurt for the pole to put brothers on the front row for the first time since 2000. But an engine change in his Toyota meant he had to drop to the back of the field at the start of the race, and Busch had to power his way through the field over 285 laps.

In a brief address to the crowd before the start of the race, he promised to get to the front.

"I just said, `Hey, you know what? We're going to the back so get ready for a show. Here it comes,'" he recalled. "Even if I got up to 20th and then backed it in, it was still going to be a show."

Busch took the lead with 57 to go, then lost it during a late round of pit stops. Busch was third on a restart with 22 to go, then chased down Jeff Burton and leader Clint Bowyer to move out front again.

"Say goodnight, Gracie," spotter Jeff Dickerson radioed as Busch moved out to a dominating lead.

But there were two more cautions, and Busch had to hold off the competition over two final restarts for his first victory of the season. It was his first win at Las Vegas in six career Cup Series starts, 13 total spanning NASCAR's top three series.

"We just had to battle back," Busch said. "We didn't have the best car out there, but we had a car we kept on working on. I don't know where I get credited for winning this thing, whether it's from the back or from the pole. Either way, we conquered both of them."

He celebrated with thick burnouts through the grass, then apparently blew his engine again. Enveloped in thick white plumes of smoke, he emerged from the clouds to make his trademark bow to the crowd.

He then collected the checkered flag from NASCAR, and kneeled to kiss the finish line on the track.

"I just had to kiss the ground this place was built on," he said, recalling every phase of construction.

He was met in Victory Lane by his tearful mother, Gaye, and Kurt Busch, who gave him a hearty hug despite his disappointing 23rd-place finish.

"He said, `We watched this place be built and you were the first one to conquer it,'" Busch recalled. "And mom was right there, too. Her face was soaked."

Kurt Busch remains winless at Las Vegas in nine career Cup starts. But forced to stay in Vegas another night because a winter storm had shut down all air traffic back to North Carolina, he was likely headed to the celebratory party on the Strip.

"We're partying it up big," Kyle Busch said. "The plane can't go home tonight, so it's going to be one heck of a party in Las Vegas."

Bowyer finished second and Burton was third, bouncing back from a horrible run last week at California.

David Reutimann, one of the five Toyota drivers who had to change a motor this weekend, finished fourth and was followed by Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon, who missed pit road late in the race and blew his tire on the subsequent trip around the track.

Greg Biffle was seventh and Brian Vickers, another Toyota driver with an engine change, was eighth. Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top 10.

Jimmie Johnson, strong all afternoon, wrecked with six laps to go to finish 24th.

Carl Edwards' motor blew with two laps to go while he was running fourth. He finished 17th.

Matt Kenseth, trying to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three races of the season, lost his engine six laps into the race and finished last. In all, Roush Fenway Racing lost three of five motors.

2009 Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Final Results

Pos	Driver	Car #	Make	Started	Laps	Led	Points
1	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	1	285	51	190
2	Clint Bowyer	33	Chevrolet	37	285	9	175
3	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	14	285	61	170
4	David Reutimann	00	Toyota	4	285	0	160
5	Bobby Labonte	96	Ford	17	285	0	155
6	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	28	285	17	155
7	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	24	285	40	151
8	Brian Vickers	83	Toyota	21	285	0	142
9	Jamie McMurray	26	Ford	38	285	0	138
10	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88	Chevrolet	31	285	0	134
11	Kasey Kahne	9	Dodge	7	285	1	135
12	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	9	285	9	132
13	Joey Logano	20	Toyota	20	285	1	129
14	David Gilliland	71	Chevrolet	30	285	0	121
15	Robby Gordon	7	Toyota	32	285	1	123
16	Sam Hornish Jr.	77	Dodge	12	285	0	115
17	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	16	285	2	117
18	David Stremme	12	Dodge	11	284	0	109
19	Regan Smith	78	Chevrolet	18	284	0	106
20	Marcos Ambrose	47	Toyota	5	284	0	103
21	Scott Speed	82	Toyota	42	284	0	100
22	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	34	284	0	97
23	Kurt Busch	2	Dodge	2	284	1	99
24	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	3	284	92	101
25	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	6	283	0	88
26	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	10	283	0	85
27	Michael Waltrip	55	Toyota	15	283	0	82
28	John Andretti	34	Dodge	29	283	0	79
29	Elliott Sadler	19	Dodge	33	283	0	76
30	Casey Mears	07	Chevrolet	41	282	0	73
31	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	23	281	0	70
32	Martin Truex Jr.	1	Chevrolet	25	281	0	67
33	AJ Allmendinger	44	Dodge	19	281	0	64
34	Reed Sorenson	43	Dodge	39	278	0	61
35	Paul Menard	98	Ford	36	269	0	58
36	Max Papis	13	Toyota	26	258	0	55
37	Todd Bodine	64	Toyota	43	227	0	52
38	Brad Keselowski	25	Chevrolet	13	221	0	49
39	Aric Almirola	8	Chevrolet	27	143	0	46
40	Mark Martin	5	Chevrolet	8	121	0	43
41	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	22	102	0	40
42	David Ragan	6	Ford	35	72	0	37
43	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	40	6	0	34

Kenseth Makes It 2-for-2 With California Win

 

Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth made it two victories in a row Sunday, holding off a late challenge from Jeff Gordon to win the Auto Club 500.

Kenseth took the lead from Gordon in the pits with 38 laps to go in the 250-lap race and stayed ahead of the runner-up in the battle of former Cup champions, pulling away over the last 20 laps.

It is the first time a Cup driver has won the first two races of the season since Gordon did it in 1997 on the way to the second of his four championships.

"It's such a great team," Kenseth said. "I just thank these guys [on the crew]. They gave me a great stop and got me in clean air and that's just a huge difference."

Kenseth and Gordon were much faster than the rest of the field at the end, both of them pulling away from the pack. But Gordon, like Kenseth winless last year, was unable to get to Kenseth's rear bumper and get a real run on the No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford.

"It was a lot of fun," Gordon said. "This is a new team and they showed it tonight. We've still got a little bit of work to do. I'm so excited on one side because we ran so well and we started out the season so great, but I'm still mad on the other side because I felt like we had what it took to win tonight."

It was Kenseth's third victory on the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway oval and the fifth consecutive February victory for team co-owner Jack Roush.

Kyle Busch, who made NASCAR history by winning both the Truck and Nationwide races on Saturday, came up short of the weekend sweep.

"It's never been done before, so you know it's a challenge," Busch said after finishing third. "The last one's always the hard one to get. It's on Sunday and it's the biggest show. Maybe one day."

Greg Biffle was a contender throughout the race, but fell to 12th after being penalized for running over his own air hose on a pit stop on Lap 209. He charged all the way to fourth, but was still upset by his mistake.

"They should fire me," said Biffle, one of four Kenseth teammates. "You just can't make mistakes like that."

Kurt Busch finished fifth, followed by Denny Hamlin, defending race winner Carl Edwards, two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart and three-time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who led 74 laps but faded in the late-going.

 

2009 Auto Club 500 Final Results

 Pos     Driver       Lap   Speed  Time  Behind  Led 

1. Matt Kenseth  250 168.828 42.65 0.000  84

No. 17 Carhartt Ford

 

2. Jeff Gordon 250 169.133 42.57 1.464 64

No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet

3. Kyle Busch 250 169.276 42.53 6.980 0 

No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota

 

4. Greg Biffle 250 170.665 42.19 9.132 16 

No. 16 3M Ford

5. Kurt Busch 250 167.993 42.86 11.328 2

No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge

 

6. Denny Hamlin 250 168.575 42.71 12.008 0

No. 11 Fed Ex Freight Toyota

7. Carl Edwards 250 167.973 42.86 13.657 1

No. 99 AFLAC Ford

8. Tony Stewart 250 168.646 42.69 16.610 3

No. 14 Old Spice / Office Depot Chevrolet 

9. Jimmie Johnson 250 169.133 42.57 17.380 74

No. 48 Kobalt Tools / Lowe's Chevrolet 

10. Brian Vickers 250 168.417 42.75 21.325 0

No. 83 Red Bull Toyota

 

11. Juan Montoya 250 168.330 42.77 24.315 1

No. 42 Target Chevrolet

12. Kasey Kahne 250 168.130 42.82 29.316 0

No. 9 Budweiser Dodge

13. David Stremme 250 167.695 42.94 31.174 3

No. 12 Penske Championship Racing Dodge

 

14. David Reutimann 250 168.044 42.85 32.755 0

No. 00 Aaron's Toyota

 

15. Michael Waltrip 250 167.950 42.87 35.995 0

No. 55 NAPA Toyota

 

16. Jamie McMurray 250 166.366 43.28 39.015 0

No. 26 Crown Royal Ford

17. David Ragan 249 167.738 42.92 1  0

No. 6 UPS Ford

18. Travis Kvapil 249 168.177 42.81 1  0

No. 28 Farmers Insurance Ford

19. Clint Bowyer 249 168.753 42.67 1  0

No. 33 Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet 

20. Bobby Labonte 249 168.224 42.80 1  0

No. 96 ASK.com Ford

21. Reed Sorenson 249 166.871 43.15 1  0

No. 43 Charter Communications Dodge 

22. Marcos Ambrose 249 165.320 43.55 1  0

No. 47 Little Debbie Toyota 

 

23. Sam Hornish Jr. 249 166.474 43.25 1  0

No. 77 AAA Insurance Dodge

24. Casey Mears 249 168.248 42.79 1  0

No. 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet

 

25. Elliott Sadler 249 166.779 43.17 1  0

No. 19 Best Buy Dodge

 

26. Joey Logano 249 167.275 43.04 1  0

No. 20 Home Depot Toyota

27. Martin Truex Jr. 249 165.746 43.44 1  0

No. 1 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet

28. Ryan Newman 248 168.319 42.78 2  0

No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet

 

29. A.J. Allmendinger 248 166.933 43.13 2  0

No. 44 Charter Communications Dodge 

30. Robby Gordon 248 167.602 42.96 2  0

No. 7 Jim Beam Toyota

31. John Andretti 248 166.289 43.30 2  1

No. 34 Window World Chevrolet

 

32. Jeff Burton 247 164.873 43.67 3  0

No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet

33. David Gilliland 246 164.967 43.64 4  0

No. 71 Unsponsored Chevrolet

34. Jeremy Mayfield 245 162.785 44.23 5 0

No. 41 All Sport Energy Drink Toyota

 

35. Aric Almirola 242 80.339 89.62 8  0

No. 8 Guitar Hero Chevrolet

36. Scott Riggs 240 164.911 43.66 10  0

No. 36 Red Bank Toyota

 

37. Paul Menard 221 162.719 44.25 29  0 

No. 98 Menards Ford

38. Kevin Harvick 207 168.118 42.83 43  0

No. 29 Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet

 

39. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 205 116.298 61.91 45  0

No. 88 AMP Energy / National Guard Chevrolet

 

40. Mark Martin 179 99.357 72.47 71  1

No. 5 CARQUEST / Kellogg's Chevrolet

 

41. Scott Speed 172 63.852 112.76 78  0

No. 82 Red Bull Toyota

 

42. Dave Blaney 50 107.339 67.08 200  0

No. 66 Unsponsored Toyota

 

43. Joe Nemechek 37 126.214 57.05 214  0

 

No. 87 Unsponsored Toyota

 

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 135.839 mph.

Time of Race: 3 hours, 40 minutes, 51 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 1.463 seconds.

Caution Flags: Five for 43 laps.

Lead Changes: 19 among 11 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J.Johnson 1-43; J.Andretti 44; Ku.Busch 45-46; J.Johnson 47-77; J.Gordon 78-85; G.Biffle 86; C.Edwards 87; J.Gordon 88-127; G.Biffle 128-142; J.Gordon 143; J.Montoya 144; M.Kenseth 145-170; J.Gordon 171; T.Stewart 172-174; M.Martin 175; M.Kenseth 176-195; J.Gordon 196-209; D.Stremme 210-212; M.Kenseth 213-250.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): M.Kenseth, 3 times for 84 laps; J.Johnson, 2 times for 74 laps; J.Gordon, 5 times for 64 laps; G.Biffle, 2 times for 16 laps; T.Stewart, 1 time for 3 laps; D.Stremme, 1 time for 3 laps; Ku.Busch, 1 time for 2 laps; C.Edwards, 1 time for 1 lap; J.Montoya, 1 time for 1 lap; J.Andretti, 1 time for 1 lap; M.Martin, 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 12 in Points: 1. M.Kenseth, 385. 2. J.Gordon, 304. 3. Ku.Busch, 294. 4. T.Stewart, 294. 5. G.Biffle, 268. 6. C.Bowyer, 266. 7. M.Waltrip, 264. 8. D.Ragan, 262. 9. C.Edwards, 260. 10. J.Montoya, 256. 11. E.Sadler, 248. 12. D.Reutimann, 248.