Eleven races without a win is an eternity for Kyle Busch, but the prolific Joe Gibbs Racing driver returned to Victory Lane decisively Friday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Six days removed from exiting the car with what was later diagnosed as pneumonia, Busch led 137 of 200 laps to win the Dollar General 300 at the 1.5-mile track. With the victory, Busch expanded his lead in the Nationwide Series standings to 195 points on fifth-place finisher Carl Edwards with four races left in the season. NASCAR
Busch scored his seventh victory of the season and the 28th of his Nationwide career.
Busch has now recorded five victories at Charlotte, which is one short of Mark Martin’s track record.
“This is my house on the Nationwide side; Jimmie [Johnson] can call it his house on the Cup side,” Busch added.
Bliss, who won the rain-shortened race here in May, finished second in the No.11 Toyota. Earlier this season, Bliss was released from his ride at Phoenix Racing, and has jumped from car to car since then.
“I’ve been kicked around pretty hard this year,” Bliss said. “To come back and run second again, it feels really good.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Dollar General 300 at Lowe’s - Race Results
Dave Blaney finished an impressive third in Joe Nemechek’s No.87 car, while Brian Vickers came in fourth and Edwards was fifth. Edwards started on the pole but did not lead a lap in the race. MiamiHerald.com
Maybe, but Busch isn’t quite ready to declare the season title locked up, though the title would help ease the frustrated he’s endured on the Cup side, where he missed the Chase for the Championship.
“It’s not over,” Busch said. “It’s definitely any man’s race right now as far as Carl (Edwards) or myself or even (Keselowski).”
Joey Logano, hoping to become just the fifth driver to win three straight Nationwide races, was collected in a seven-car pile up on lap 70. He pitted eight times during the ensuing caution while his crew tried to bang out the dents. He flirted with getting back into the top 10, but was black-flagged late in the race when a part of his rear fender came dangerously close to breaking off. Logano finished 14th.
The crash also took out Cup star Matt Kenseth, who led 21 laps early before getting caught in the second wave of the incident. The Associated Press
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