CNHI
5-25-10 — Kyle Busch won Sunday's Sprint Cup Autism 400 at Dover after Jimmie
Johnson was caught speeding on pit road late in the race, putting him a lap
down to the leaders.
"It's phenomenal," said Busch. "We prevailed and that's what it takes to
win one of these races.
"We weren't the best car at the beginning, but at about lap 260 we came
on. We did the right things at the right time."
Busch made it two-for-three at Dover. He won Saturday night's Nationwide
race, and was leading Friday's Camping World Truck race, when he ran out of
gas.
Johnson and Busch were running 1-2 when they both came into the pits for
tires with 35-laps remaining in the 400-lap race. Busch exited his pit stall
first, and Johnson tried to pass him on pit road, but NASCAR said Johnson
was speeding.
"Evidently I got out of the pits a little quicker than normal," said
Johnson who wound up 16th. "I didn't want Kyle to beat me out."
Johnson led 225 laps, the most of any driver, but went from hot to cold.
The one mistake in the pits probably cost him the win. He dropped from
second to fourth in points.
Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, David Reutimann, Greg Biffle,
Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, and Joey Logano were the top-10
finishing drivers.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned in poor practice times, and never got the
race-day handling he needed. He finished 10-laps down in 30th position.
Top-12 Chase contenders after 12 of 36: 1. Harvick-1768, 2. Kyle
Busch-1699, 3. Kenseth-1642, 4. Johnson-1637, 5. Hamlin-1618, 6. J.
Gordon-1605, 7. Biffle-1581, 8. Burton-1569, 9. Kurt Busch-1531, 10.
Edwards-1487, 11. Martin-1475, 12. Truex-1434
KYLE BUSCH IS DOVER NATIONWIDE WINNER
Kyle Busch dominated Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Dover, but a
late-race altercation between Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer, took the
limelight.
Busch scored his fourth series victory of the season and 34th of his
career by leading all but 14 of 205 laps as the race ended with a
green-white-checkered finish.
He never was truly challenged and pulled away from the field on the
final restart.
As Busch celebrated in Victory Lane, Bowyer was waiting in the
Nationwide hauler to meet with NASCAR officials. On the next-to-last
restart, Hamlin knocked Bowyer out of second place as the green flag waved.
The fracas triggered a nine-car accident and an 11-minute, 43-second red
flag.
After the red was lifted, Bowyer drove from pit road and slammed into
the side of Hamlin's car, causing it to spin. NASCAR immediately parked
Bowyer and sent him to the garage.
"(Our team has) had a frustrating year, bringing home a lot of torn-up
racecars," said Bowyer, "It is what it is. I don't have a beef with Denny.
We'll be fine. I got one taken from me. Just a little payback."
Ryan Newman drove through the crash and finished second to Busch, with
Jamie McMurray third. Reed Sorenson was fourth, followed by Braun Racing
teammate Jason Leffler.
Kevin Harvick was sixth. Brad Keselowski finished seventh to hold on to
the points lead by 11 over Busch. Greg Biffle was eighth, with rookies Brian
Scott and Colin Braun rounding out the top 10.
Top-10 points leaders after 11 of 36: 1. Brad Keselowski-1766, 2. Kyle
Busch-1755, 3. Harvick-1702, 4. Edwards-1546, 5. Allgaier-1521, 6.
Menard-1404, 7. Biffle-1239, 8. Logano-1228, 9. Leffler-1204, 10. Scott-1181