Kyle Busch set another NASCAR record by claiming his 11th Nationwide Series win of the season with a near flawless performance in Saturday’s Dover 200 at Dover International Speedway.
Busch led all but eight of the 200 laps, en route to his 11th win in just 23 races this season. He is running a limited schedule in NASCAR’s second-tier series this year. Sam Ard originally set the series record of 10 wins in 1983, which Busch matched in 2008.
In the final 10 laps, Busch told his crew over the radio he felt a bad vibration. He crossed the finish line 0.4 seconds ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano. It was the 11th time JGR drivers have finished 1-2 in a Nationwide race. MiamiHerald.com
“At the end, I don’t know what happened,” Busch said. “It started vibrating and shaking real bad. That was worrying me real bad.”
Busch is not running for the series championship – Brad Keselowski has a comfortable point lead – and has raced in only 23 of the 28 races to date. With 11 wins, he is almost hitting .500.
Following in the top five were Carl Edwards, Reed Sorenson and Kevin Harvick. FOXNews
“We had to have our car perfect to keep up,” Logano said. “We did a good job, got it to a second place car. We just gave up way too much on restarts in the first 20 laps to make it up at the end.”
Carl Edwards finished third, and was able to chip away at the points lead of Brad Keselowski, who finished 17th. Edwards trimmed 53 points from his deficit and now trails Keselowski by 320 points in the series standings.
“We ran very strong, and the car was good,” Edwards said. “It had a lot of speed in it, and that’s what we were lacking last time we were here. We just didn’t have a fast car. So a good job by everybody in the shop.”
The much-anticipated debut of Danica Patrick didn’t go as well as she or her fans had hoped. Patrick blew a right front tire on lap 72 and hit the wall in Turn 4. She eventually made it back out on the track, but missed 94 laps.
“I know now from experience that when you have a vibration or the car doesn’t want to turn, you’re probably losing [tire] pressure,” Patrick said. “Lesson learned. It’s not a lesson you want to learn while everybody’s watching.”
Busch has 18 top-fives this season running a partial schedule in the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s third in the points standings behind leader Brad Keselowski and Edwards.
“I would have liked to have run the whole season,” Busch said. “But I look back and I know what the bigger picture is. The bigger picture is Sunday.”
He means Sprint Cup where he’s still chasing his first championship.
Busch’s name is alone in the win total, but he gave plenty of love to his crew. He even dragged his veteran car chief Leo Thorsen into Victory Lane. Thorsen had long skipped the post-race celebration because of his superstitions.
Busch got Thorsen to promise he’d join him in Victory Lane if he won 11 times.
“I told him, ‘If I ever get to 11, you’re coming,” Busch said. “We lived up to our word. I got it, he came.” NASCAR.com
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NASCAR Nationwide Series: Dover 200 at Dover International Speedway - Race Results
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