Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch caps championship run with Homestead win
Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch clinched the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship and won the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. // SceneDaily Illustration, NASCAR Scene (David Griffin)
Photo gallery: Nationwide racing at Homestead
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch capped off his first NASCAR championship with a dominant victory in the Ford 300 Nationwide Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday.
Busch led 73 laps and held off a final-corner thrust by Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards to win his ninth race of the season.
“What an awesome race,” Busch said. “Carl and Jeff Burton put on a whale of a show up there, Jeff on the bottom, Carl up top, and at the end of the race with Carl coming through on tires, it was such a fun deal – fun to watch and fun to be a part of at the end. [I’m] glad we were able to hold them off and come out here and win this thing.
“This is another race track that I can mark off my list of venues I haven't won at, and so [I’m] really excited to be able to do that. I felt like I wasn't the best driver here tonight, but the guys gave me a car capable enough of winning.”
Busch’s victory may have been overshadowed by yet another run-in between Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin. After last week’s dustup at Phoenix, Hamlin vowed to pay Keselowski back.
On lap 35, Hamlin got in the back of Keselowski’s JR Motorsports Chevrolet off Turn 4, sending Keselowski spinning. CJM Racing’s Hamlin was penalized one lap for aggressive driving.
Hamlin later got the free pass to get back on the lead lap, and late in the race made a clean pass on Keselowski.
Hamlin finished fifth, with Keselowski 12th.
Edwards pitted for tires under the race’s final caution and restarted eighth with 11 laps to go. But he didn’t stay eighth for long.
“I was closing at a rate that was going to take about three more laps to really get him,” Edwards said. “So there in the last corner, I just dove way down in there to see what that looked like, how close I could get. I mean, I couldn't get by him without probably touching him. So I didn't – I just didn't have enough time.
“But I thought it was pretty fun, though, trying to come – we restarted eighth and got to race a little bit and made a good charge.
Edwards ended up second to Busch, with Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton third. JGR’s Joey Logano was fourth.
“Obviously we're a little disappointed with third, but it was fun,” Burton said. “Early in the race it got a little strung out, but it was OK because we were leading. But once the caution came, Carl got real fast, and it was a race from then on, and I thought that was a lot of fun to be part of.”
Sixth through 10th were Braun Racing’s David Reutimann, Kevin Harvick Inc.’s Ryan Newman, Rusty Wallace Racing’s Steve Wallace, Michael Waltrip Racing’s Scott Speed and Roush Fenway’s Matt Kenseth 10th.
Penske Racing’s Justin Allgaier was named Raybestos Rookie of the Year after finishing 20th.
Phoenix Racing’s Mike Bliss held on to fifth in the points standings with a 16th-place finish and will be on stage for Monday night’s Nationwide/Camping World Truck series awards banquet.
Edwards finished second in the points standings, too, with Keselowski third, Braun Racing’s Jason Leffler fourth and Bliss fifth. The rest of the top 10 in points were Allgaier, Rusty Wallace Racing’s Steve Wallace, Baker Curb Racing’s Jason Keller, RWR’s Brendan Gaughan and Germain Racing’s Michael Annett.
