Busch remains peerless at Bristol
March 15, 2014
By Seth Livingstone
NASCAR Wire Service
BRISTOL,
Tenn. -- Kyle Larson had a plan in mind for the finish. But Kyle Busch
has it all figured out at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Busch
became the first driver in history to post 16 victories at a single
track in NASCAR's three national touring series, pulling away
from the field after the final restart with nine laps remaining, to win
Saturday's Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 presented by Lilly Diabetes.
Busch,
a five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner at Bristol, won for the
sixth time in his last eight NASCAR Nationwide Series starts
on the .533-mile track.
Larson,
who battled side-by-side with Busch in the final laps of last year’s
Nationwide race at Bristol, took second place from Kevin
Harvick with seven laps remaining but had no shot at catching Busch.
"I
was not going to be as nice as I was last year," said Larson
envisioning a replay of his 2013 battle to the wire at Bristol in which
he came up 0.023 seconds short.
But
plans to thwart Busch never materialized. Larson slipped up the track,
too high, and Busch pulled away to win by 1.441 seconds.
"It
doesn't matter if they're cheering or booing," said Busch, who has
seven victories and 16 top-10 finishes in 20 career Nationwide
starts at Bristol. "Hopefully we can sweep the weekend."
Larson,
who started on the pole, was the only driver besides Busch and Joe
Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth to lead a lap. Busch led
the final 91 on his way to his celebratory burnout.
"When
I got too high in (turns) 1 and 2 and Kevin (Harvick) got to my inside,
I knew that was it for the race," said Larson, who has
top-10 finishes in each of his three Nationwide starts at Bristol. "I
knew I had to hold on for second."
Busch remains hard-pressed to come up with a definitive reason for his success at Bristol.
"My
first time here in 2004 was a test with my Hendrick (Motorsports)
Nationwide guys," he recalled. "My throttle hung going into Turn
1 and I killed the car.
"(Since
then) I've sort of figured it out, started running up front, leading
laps, winning races. Why that all is, I don't know. I just
enjoy coming to banked race tracks. Bristol reminds me a bit of one of
my favorite tracks where I ran late models, Winchester (Speedway) in
Indiana."
Busch
had his hands full with Kenseth for much of Saturday's race. Kenseth,
driving his first Nationwide Series race at Bristol since
2009, led 178 of the first 209 laps but finished fifth behind Ryan
Blaney.
"Kenseth
was lightning fast much of the day and I was having a hard time
catching him," Busch said. "The biggest thing was that the
track changed so much from practice. It was entirely different -- not
even close. Adam (Stevens, Busch's crew chief) made some really good
calls on the pit box trying to free me up."
Kenseth's struggles came in traffic and trying to make up ground when restarting on the bottom.
"We
had a good car, early, and in the whole race but just kind of got
picked in traffic," Kenseth said. "Once (Busch) got the lead,
it was hard to beat him."
Rounding
out the top 10 were Ty Dillon (the highest-finishing rookie), Brendan
Gaughan, Trevor Bayne, Chase Elliott and Regan Smith,
who continues to lead the series points standings, one point ahead of
Bayne.
Cole
Conley, making his Nationwide debut for Richard Childress Racing, made a
strong showing, running in the top 15 all afternoon and
finishing 11th.
*** BELOW IS WHAT IS AT RACE REPORT, PLUS MUCH MORE **LINK AT TOP OF THIS PAGE
NASCAR Nationwide Series Race - Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 presented by Lilly Diabetes
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee
Saturday, March 15, 2014
1. (2) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 300, $47325.
2. (1) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 300, $44100.
3. (6) Kevin Harvick(i), Chevrolet, 300, $29100.
4. (5) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 300, $31825.
5. (3) Matt Kenseth(i), Toyota, 300, $27775.
6. (9) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 300, $29200.
7. (20) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 300, $27635.
8. (14) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 300, $29595.
9. (15) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 300, $27275.
10. (7) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 300, $29275.
11. (12) Cale Conley(i), Chevrolet, 300, $26725.
12. (26) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 300, $26625.
13. (8) James Buescher, Toyota, 299, $26525.
14. (4) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 299, $26475.
15. (11) Dylan Kwasniewski #, Chevrolet, 298, $27050.
16. (13) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 298, $26550.
17. (18) Elliott Sadler, Toyota, 297, $26300.
18. (30) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 297, $26250.
19. (34) Joe Nemechek(i), Toyota, 297, $26150.
20. (19) Ryan Sieg(i), Chevrolet, 296, $26800.
21. (25) Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, 296, $26025.
22. (22) Will Kimmel, Toyota, 294, $25970.
23. (37) Jamie Dick, Chevrolet, 294, $25920.
24. (29) Dakoda Armstrong #, Ford, 294, $25845.
25. (28) Mike Wallace, Dodge, 294, $26295.
26. (10) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 293, $25720.
27. (35) Eric McClure, Toyota, 290, $25670.
28. (36) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 290, $19595.
29. (38) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 285, $25545.
30. (23) Josh Wise(i), Chevrolet, 270, $25295.
31. (21) Ryan Reed #, Ford, Accident, 258, $24790.
32. (17) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 249, $24655.
33. (39) Ruben Garcia Jr., Toyota, Accident, 214, $24540.
34. (33) Kevin Lepage, Dodge, Engine, 152, $24505.
35. (27) Kelly Admiraal, Toyota, Engine, 148, $18465.
36. (31) Tanner Berryhill #, Dodge, Engine, 144, $23025.
37. (40) Matt Carter, Toyota, Brakes, 18, $16990.
38. (32) Carl Long, Dodge, Electrical, 11, $16931.
39. (16) Matt Dibenedetto, Chevrolet, Electrical, 6, $16830.
40. (24) Blake Koch, Toyota, Vibration, 5, $16805.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 87.165 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 50 Mins, 04 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.441 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 47 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 3 drivers.
Lap
Leaders: K. Larson(i) 1-2; K. Busch(i) 3-29; M. Kenseth(i) 30-96; K.
Busch(i) 97; M. Kenseth(i) 98-137; K. Busch(i) 138; M. Kenseth(i)
139-209;
K. Busch(i) 210-300.
Leaders
Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): M. Kenseth(i) 3 times for 178
laps; K. Busch(i) 4 times for 120 laps; K. Larson(i) 1 time for 2
laps.
Top
10 in Points: R. Smith - 151; T. Bayne - 150; T. Dillon # - 143; C.
Elliott # - 138; E. Sadler - 135; B. Gaughan - 131; B. Scott - 127; J.
Buescher
- 117; D. Kwasniewski # - 116; L. Cassill - 105.
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