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DARLINGTON, S.C. - Kyle Busch
overcame a penalty for a loose
lug nut and several encounters
with the wall to win Saturday
night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington
Raceway.
Busch was penalized for a loose
lug nut during an early race
pit stop and was forced back
to pit road.
But he was able to race his
way back to the front of the
field and by lap 163 had moved
into 12th place.
It took 107 more laps before
he was able to get around Jeff
Gordon for the top spot and
from there, he cruised to his
third Cup win of the season.
“This is pretty awesome,”
Busch said. “Darlington
showed how tough it is tonight,
and it’s always gonna
be tough. I just have to thank
my team.”
Busch's battered Joe Gibbs
Racing Toyota rolled into victory
lane looking like it had been
through a demo derby at a local
short track.
"We’re gonna go
through a lot of tools fixing
this thing this week,”
Busch said.
"How many times did I
hit the wall? I don’t
know, one, two, three, four,
probably five or six. I’ve
got to thank my team, they build
them as strong as they can for
me, ‘cause I like to knock
the walls down with them.”
The 23-year-old Busch became
the youngest winner in Darlington
Raceway's history.
Carl Edwards started 36th and
was able to come all the way
back to finish second.
“My hat’s off to
Kyle and Steve (Addington, crew
chief) - they had the fastest
car,” Edwards said. “We
wanted to beat them so bad.
I hate second place, but I guess
it’s good for points.”
Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
and David Ragan rounded out
the top five.
Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin,
Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney and
Jeff Burton rounded out the
top 10.
Greg Biffle was in the hunt
for a third Darlington win in
the last four races, but mechanical
failure took him out of contention
on lap 234 after leading 95
laps.
"It's really frustrating,"
Biffle said. "But, you
know what, I've just come accustomed
to expecting it because it's
just week after week it's something."
"This has been typical
of our equipment, I guess. Loose
wheels all night, bad vibration,
then I think the motor blew
up. All I want is equipment
to drive that stays together."
It took only three laps for
the first caution to fly when
Elliott Sadler made a costly
mistake when he got loose and
spun up into Tony Stewart in
Turn 1.
Sadler was quick to apologize
for the incident.
"It was my fault,"
Sadler said. "I apologize
to all of his fans."
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
now heads to Lowe's Motor Speedway
for Saturday night's All-Star
Challenge. |
Busch
Bounces Back at Darlington
Paducah
Postponed by Rain