Busch dominates in New Hampshire
Kyle Busch needed some OT to grab that checkered flag.
Once he did, he bowed twice to the crowd.
He could have done it one more time – one for each green-white-checkered finish he needed to survive to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Busch dominated in regulation, then proved he had the car to beat in three attempts of NASCAR’s version of overtime to win the Nationwide Series race.
Busch needed to drive 213 laps of a scheduled 200-lap race to win his seventh race of the season. He snapped a four-race winless streak and won his 58th career Nationwide race.
He had enough fuel left in the tank to win from the pole for the fourth time this season.
Brian Vickers ran out of gas just as he crossed the finish line. Busch pitted for the final time two laps after Vickers, on lap 119. He tried to conserve fuel through various methods and pad his stats for total laps led. He passed the 12,000 mark in career laps led and has 12,085.
“It’s just about being out front and setting your own pace,” Busch said. “It’s kind of like minding your own business. I like everyone away from me and to be doing my own thing.” Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Busch (141), Vickers (63) and Matt Kenseth (nine) led every lap in the race.
Vickers was second and Austin Dillon third. Brian Scott and Michael Annett rounded out the top five.
Busch is still trying to find the same success in the Sprint Cup series. He has two wins this season and 26 in 311 career starts. He has 58 wins in 258 Nationwide starts.
“It’d certainly be nice to have those numbers in the Cup series, but for whatever reason, it hasn’t quite worked out that way yet,” he said. “For some reason, Jimmie Johnson’s doing it. He’s the guy over there that does all those numbers and I can do it here. Maybe one day we should swap rides.”
Maybe not today at New Hampshire.
Busch starts fourth and Johnson is 43rd after his qualifying time was tossed out because he failed inspection.
Pit stops
Timothy Peters claimed the lead after a restart on lap 195 to win the NASCAR Trucks Series race at Iowa Speedway. … Dario Franchitti won his appeal of a last-lap penalty at Toronto. Franchitti finished third in Saturday’s race at Exhibition Place but learned during the podium celebration he’d been stripped of the finish for blocking Will Power on the final lap. … IndyCar driver Scott Dixon passed Sebastien Bourdais with nine laps to go to win on the street course at Toronto. … IndyCar placed Takuma Sato on probation for five races for running into Ryan Hunter-Reay on pit road at Pocono.