Kyle Busch put on a dominating performance in Saturday’s New England 200 to become the first repeat Nationwide Series race winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and set a new record for most career laps led in NASCAR’s second-tier series.
Busch, who also won at New Hampshire one year ago, led 126 of 200 laps, but had to hold off a hard-charging Brad Keselowski in the closing laps for his sixth win of the season and the 36th of his Nationwide career, which placed him in a tie with Kevin Harvick for second on the series’ all-time race winners list.
There had been 23 different winners in as many Nationwide races at New Hampshire before Busch snapped the streak.
Busch also surpassed Mark Martin to become the series’ all-time career lap leader with 8,117 laps. Martin currently holds the record for most Nationwide wins with 48, but Busch is hoping to top that number in the future. MiamiHerald.com
“We got up front on one of those long runs and pulled away,” Busch said. “I was able to keep it up in front where track position counts the most and drive away from those guys a little bit.
“Brad was decent and staying with us. But it’s pretty hard to pass in this place so it would have been tough for him to get around.”
“I wish there was money for laps led, obviously that would be pretty cool,” Busch said. “It comes down to just being competitive and being that fierce competitor that wants to lead every lap and win ever race.
“It’s remarkable to beat a guy like Mark Martin that did so much for this series. It’s fun to race in this series and rally up as many wins as we can.” Boston Herald
Keselowski, whose point lead swelled to 247, was no match for Busch in the twilight laps of the race. “We were off a little at the start of the race, and we made progress, but we didn’t have enough,” Keselowski said.
Joey Logano, Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, ran on Busch’s bumper much of the afternoon but fell back to fourth in the closing laps after he spun his tires on the final restart. Carl Edwards finished third, and Trevor Bayne took fifth. FOXNews
Patrick’s troubles started earlier when she was racing beside Morgan Shepherd on Lap 6. Shepherd had the inside lane but slid into Patrick’s Chevrolet and spun it, damaging the left side of the car.
Patrick lost a lap on pit road. Ultimately, she finished 30th, five laps down.
“It was definitely a long day,” said Patrick, who showed her frustration by bumping Shepherd’s car lightly on pit road after the race. “It’s always tough when you start from behind like that, and to be a lap down so quickly, but, you know, it was a bummer to get lapped so many times, but it was a learning process.
“We were very tight to start with, and we just kept freeing the car up, and it helped. There’s a lot for me to learn, how to overcome when the car does push and how to drive the car. I felt like by the end of the race, I finally sort of had a couple of things that I knew helped me out there to keep the car under control, to keep the front end underneath me better, and ultimately just have overall faster laps.
“I did learn out there, but it’s frustrating.” NASCAR.com
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NASCAR Nationwide Series: New England 200 at New Hampshire - Race-Results
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