Kyle Busch put on a dominating performance, but had to hold off a furious challenge from Carl Edwards during a green- white-checkered finish to win Saturday’s Kroger 200 Nationwide Series race at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
An incident involving Joe Nemechek in the closing laps set up the two-lap overtime finish. Edwards made several attempts to pass Busch for the lead, but came up 0.2 seconds short of winning at ORP for the second year in a row.
Earlier this week, NASCAR penalized Edwards with a 60-point loss, fined him $25,000 and placed him on probation until December 31 for aggressive driving.
Edwards made it a clean finish this time.
“That was a good race to get out of the way,” Edwards said. “That was a lot of fun. I’m glad it ended up the way it did.” MiamiHerald.com
“It’s always there, especially at a short track and especially here at ORP,” Busch said. “You’re so vulnerable running around the top side like you do, that people can dive bomb you on the bottom and slide up into you.
“I knew it was there. But if I could just keep enough momentum rolling I felt like anytime he laid a bumper to me he’d get sideways too.”
Aric Almirola finished third in the No. 88 J.R. Motorsports Chevrolet. Polesitter Trevor Bayne and Georgian Reed Sorenson rounded out the top five. FOXNews
Ron Hornaday Jr.‘s campaign to sweep the week’s NASCAR events at ORP was dashed. With 39 laps left, the Camping World Truck Series AAA Insurance 200 champion from Friday made contact with J.C. Stout’s No. 31 Chevrolet in turn three. Hornaday, who was second at the time, drove off the track with heavy damage to the right side of his No. 33 Chevrolet. Stout’s car was towed away.
Later, after the final restart, Busch knew Edwards posed a threat. But he carried confidence in himself.
“There just wasn’t enough time for him to do it in two laps,” Busch said. “We had a fast enough race car tonight where we were good enough to hold our position.” Indianapolis Star
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NASCAR Nationwide Series: Kroger 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park - Race Results
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