Sunday, May 16, 2010

NASCAR: Kyle Busch Romps to Victory in Dover Nationwide Race

Kyle Busch had little serious opposition Saturday as he dominated and won the Nationwide series race at Dover International Speedway.

His fourth victory of the year in the Nationwide race series came despite a late restart, a five-car crash that caused a red flag and finally a green-white-checkered finish.

"Well, let's see if it's our week to win," Busch said before the extended finish. And it was for Busch even though the last three leaders before a green-white-checkered finish in Nationwide races failed to win. He was also leading in the truck race Friday before a final restart, and failed to win when he ran out of gas.

Busch led 191 of the 203 laps and won going away -- crossing under the checkered flag at least 25 car lengths ahead of Ryan Newman. Jamie McMurray was third, followed by Reed Sorenson and Jason Leffler.

"We've been fast here a lot at Dover," Busch said in victory lane. "We've had great race cars. We've been kinda snake bit. But today was a good day for us. We were good all day. Came off pit road strong and everything. We just held our own."

"I knew we had a great race car, and if we could just get through the restarts and not have anybody turn me sideways," we'd win, Busch said afterward.

Most of the action in the race came at the end. Clint Bowyer was rear-ended by Hamlin on one of the late restarts. Bowyer spent little time stewing on pit road, driving right back out on the track and into Hamlin, turning him sideways.

Bowyer's retaliatory hit got him instantly parked by NASCAR and ordered to the sanctioning body's transporter for a post-race discussion. His race was over and Hamlin's was spoiled. Bowyer finished 25th, Hamlin was 12th.

"I just clipped him on the way by. It was nothing intentional," Hamlin said. "I just misjudged it, barely. It's hard to blame it on not running these cars a lot, but I just didn't know how close I was.

"I'm sure he was frustrated, but I don't fault him. I'm sure I'd be frustrated, too. It's hard to say he's in the wrong."

The race was red-flagged for 11 minutes, 43 seconds with less than 10 laps remaining after the accident left fluid and mangled cars all over the track.

Trevor Bayne limped away from his car after the accident and went to the hospital.

"It seems like we can always find something in the last 10 laps to get a caution," Busch said.

"It got exciting for everybody at the end," Newman said, laughing.

"I hope that they don't penalize Clint Bowyer," McMurray said. "That's what every race car driver wants to do. You don't want to hurt anybody, but when someone takes you out of a race like that and you have no chance of finishing, and they're still going to finish, that is just the best gratification that a guy can have."

Read More HERE at Motorsports Fanhouse

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