Truex outlasts Harvick, cruises to easy Busch win
Martin Truex Jr. bided his time until the handling on Kevin Harvick’s car went away, then passed him for the lead with 70 laps to go and eventually drove away to an easy victory in the NASCAR Busch series race Saturday at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.
It was the second consecutive victory on The Monster Mile for the series champion, his third this year and ninth overall in Busch competition. After passing Harvick, Truex was out of the lead for only four more laps.
“At the end of the race, it was the best my car was all day long,” Truex said. “Once I got into clean air, it was game over.”
The victory moved him up one spot to third, pulling him within 120 points of series leader Carl Edwards, who retired with a late mechanical problem.
Harvick dominated the first two-thirds of the MBNA 200, and showed the way for a race-high 86 laps. He took the lead from polesitter Edwards on the second lap and dominated until Truex took control. The winner’s only goal thereafter was to avoid lapped traffic.
Edwards’ late engine problem cost him more than 100 points, and his advantage fell to 74 over Sorenson.
The leader averaged 97.258 mph in a race slowed nine times by 47 laps of caution. There were 10 lead changes among six drivers.
Finishing third was Jamie McMurray in a Dodge. He said he learned something, but not anything he can apply to today’s MBNA 400 Nextel Cup race.
“I found out that my Busch car drives a lot better than my Cup car,” he said.
Fourth was Dale Jarrett in a Ford, followed by the Chevrolet of Sunday’s polesitter, Jimmie Johnson.
Tony Raines, Jason Keller, Greg Biffle, Kenny Wallace and Joe Nemechek completed the top 10.
Jon Wood, injured in one of several crashes, was treated at Bayhealth Medical Center and released.
NASCAR Trucks
Kyle Busch got a huge break and won his second straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck series race after an error on pit road took dominant Ron Hornaday out of contention at Dover International Speedway.
Busch, who also won the truck race two weeks ago at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, was making just his second start this season.
“I was never that strong at Dover, so that’s why I wanted to run here,” he said. “It was like ‘Days of Thunder’ with going to the outside in turns three and four.”
Hornaday led all but 13 of the first 112 laps and 134 of 200 overall. But he was forced to pit a second time after a caution because of a missing lugnut with 50 laps to go in the MBNA 200.
The 20-year-old Busch broke in with six races in 2001. But he was banned the next season, when NASCAR mandated that drivers in its touring series had to be at least 18.
Busch became Rookie of the Year in 2004 in the Busch series. He now is a full-time racer in the elite Nextel Cup division, where older brother Kurt was the champion last year, and both will compete today in the MBNA 400.
The younger Busch finished 36th earlier in the day in the Busch series event, but said he was none the worse for the wear.
“Busch took the lead from David Reutimann when the green flag waved with 19 laps remaining, and his Chevrolet held off that of Tony Stewart, another moonlighting Nextel Cup driver. The margin of victory was 0.745 seconds.
Series leader Ted Musgrave finished 17th and holds a 20-point lead over Ricky Craven.
The leader averaged 96.735 mph in a race slowed a record 11 times by 49 laps of caution. There were six lead changes among five drivers.
Finishing third was Terry Cook in a Ford. Fourth was Hornaday in a Chevy, followed by the Reutimann’s Toyota.
Only 13 of 36 trucks were on the lead lap at the end.
Champ Car
Paul Tracy has been schooled by several masters of oval racing and Saturday he turned some of that savvy into his fourth win at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis.
Tracy made a gutsy outside pass of pole-winner Jimmy Vasser stick on the 19th of 221 laps and went on to win the Road Runner 225 Champ Car World Series event.
“In the beginning of my career, I had Rick (Mears) and Emerson (Fittipaldi) to learn from,” Tracy explained. “Then Al (Unser Jr.) came and Michael (Andretti) in ‘95. He won here a lot of times.
“I learned how you can push it on cold tires and I’ve just got a good feel.”