Kyle Busch made it eight victories this season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, leading 157 laps and absolutely dominating Saturday in a green-white-checkered flag finish at Dover International Speedway.
Starting from the pole in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota, Busch was never challenged and pulled ahead by a couple of car lengths on the final restart late in an overtime race that stretched to 207 laps.
“It was a pretty flawless day for us,” Busch said.
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. Mike Bliss finished second.
“Why the hell did he pick this race to run?” asked Bliss, who crossed the finish line in second place, .866 seconds behind the winner. “I wish he had skipped this race. I’m pretty happy, but these guys [on the No. 1 Chevrolet team] deserve a win.
“We were really fast on long runs, but the short runs just weren’t quite there.”
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 finished third, followed by Scott Wimmer and Carl Edwards. Hamlin [driving the No. 32 Braun Racing Toyota this week], Jason Leffler, Jamie McMurray, David Ragan and series leader Clint Bowyer completed the top 10.
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