Kyle Busch dominates at Dover for eighth Nationwide win of season
By Reid Spencer - Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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Jason Smith / Getty Images for NASCAR
Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch celebrates his eighth NASCAR Nationwide Series win of the season on Saturday at Dover International Speedway.
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DOVER, Del. - With a committee of crew chiefs - and in the face of some wishful thinking on the part of Mike Bliss - Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch won Saturday's Camping World RV Sales 200 Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway in dominating fashion.
Busch led 157 of 207 laps in a race that ended with a green-white-checkered-flag finish after JR Motorsports' Landon Cassill and Rusty Wallace Racing's Steve Wallace collided on lap 199 to bring out the seventh and final caution and send the event seven laps beyond its scheduled distance.
It was Busch's eighth Nationwide Series victory of the year, matching his total in the Sprint Cup Series, and the 19th of his career.
"Why the hell did he pick this race to run?" asked Phoenix Racing's Bliss, who crossed the finish line in second place, .866 seconds behind the winner. "I wish he had skipped this race. I'm pretty happy, but these guys (on the No. 1) Miccosukee Resorts Chevrolet team) deserve a win.
"We were really fast on long runs, but the short runs just weren't quite there."
With regular No. 18 Toyota crew chief Jason Ratcliff suspended indefinitely - the result of a rules infraction discovered at Michigan - Joel Wideman made the pit calls for Busch on Saturday, with Busch's Cup crew chief, Steve Addington, serving in an advisory capacity. Wideman was the third different crew chief in the last three races with the No. 18 car.
"It was a great effort by this whole team," said Busch, who drove the same chassis his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, powered to victory at Dover in May. "Joel Wideman - he did a great job calling the race. It wasn't easy for us, but it was a pretty flawless day. Just a phenomenal race car, and a lot of fun to drive."
JR Motorsports' Brad Keselowski finished third, followed by Richard Childress Racing's Scott Wimmer and Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards. Hamlin (driving the No. 32 Braun Racing Toyota this week), Braun's Jason Leffler, Roush Fenway's Jamie McMurray, Roush Fenway's David Ragan and series leader Clint Bowyer (RCR) completed the top 10.
Bowyer's lead in the Nationwide standings took a hit, thanks to a collision on pit road with Edwards, his closest pursuer. Exiting pit road on lap 100, Bowyer's No. 2 Chevrolet was outside Edwards' No. 60 Ford when Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann pulled out of his pit stall and forced Edwards wide.
Contact from Edwards' Ford knocked Bowyer into the outside pit wall, damaging both front fenders. But Bowyer remained on the lead lap and salvaged the 10th-place finish to keep his points loss to a minimum. Edwards gained 21 points on the series leader but remains 186 behind with six events remaining.
Comments
2 responses to "Kyle Busch dominates at Dover for eighth Nationwide win of season"
Sheila Hawley said:
Sep 22, 2008 at 10:03 AMBig deal. So Kyle can beat the Nationwide drivers. They're just learning, remember? He's probably cheating any way. Sheila Hawley Endwell, NY
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPat Draper said:
Sep 24, 2008 at 12:28 PMShelia get a life. Saying someone is cheating just because they win is pretty strong words. Most of the Nationwide drivers are good, but don't forget Kyle is also beating the cups drivers doing double duty so careful what you say. If you are one of those Busch bashers get over it. The fact of the matter is Kyle can handle a race car and one of the best. Seems he can drive anything, poor Jeff can't seem to get his cars to his liking poor boy. So then you would say Jeff is a poor driver to then huh? Remember when Kyle wins in Nationwide he's running against the BIF, Cousin Carl, Clint, sometimes Jr , Kenneth just a few of the good drivers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
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