Backstretch Motorsports

LOUDON, N.H. — Kyle Busch has been in a holding pattern of frustration lately, leading the most laps in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race, and not getting the victory. He changed that today by winning Saturday’s Camping World RV Sales 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

In a trade of fortunes. the driver of the No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) earned the win by beating his teammate, Joey Logano, to the stripe by .617 of a second. It was Busch’s fifth Nationwide Series win of the season and his first since taking the checkered flag three weeks ago at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.

In the final 10 laps, Logano closed up to the rear bumper of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota in lapped traffic, but Busch eventually pulled away to win his fifth race of the season by .617 seconds over his teammate.

Busch collected the 26th Nationwide victory of his career, fifth-best all-time and one behind fourth-place Jeff Burton. The win further extended Busch’s lead in the championship point standings, as he now carries a 162-point advantage over his nearest pursuer, Carl Edwards, with 19 races still remaining.

“Today we didn’t have the winning car, we made the winning car,” said Busch, who now has 26 career Nationwide Series victories in 154 starts. “Sometimes when we’re out front we’re content with what we’ve got and we end up getting beat in the end. The show is stolen from us. But this is great. (Jason) Ratcliff (crew chief) and myself talked this past week about what we needed to do in order to get better, in order to take this team to victory lane instead of finishing second week in and week out. This is a good step in the right direction. I’m really proud of Jason and all of these guys here.

“Texas, Charlotte, Atlanta — all those big tracks — Kansas, Chicago, you’ve got room. You can go way up to the wall and run around the outside and pass guys, and you’ve got the whole racetrack to use. Here, Milwaukee, Phoenix, you’ve got one, one-and-a-half lanes to use in order to get through guys and make it up towards the front. So you’ve got to be methodical about it, think about it and try not to get into anybody.”

Logano, on the other hand, got a taste of the frustration that has haunted Busch, who had led 1,486 of the 2,787 laps he had completed in the first 15 races this season.

“I guess this is how Kyle feels lately — leading the most laps and not winning,” said Logano, who led a race-high 108 laps.

Finishing third behind Busch and Logano was Brad Keselowski, while Mike Bliss and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five. Edwards, Greg Biffle, Scott Speed, rookie Erik Darnell and Jason Leffler comprised the remainder of the top-10.

The race featured three caution periods for 15 laps, with 10 drivers failing to finish the race.

Sprint Cup teammates Scott Speed and Brian Vickers — driving cars for different Nationwide owners — tangled in Turn 3 on the final lap and lost chances for top-five finishes. As the cars entered pit road following the race, Vickers (who came home 12th) bumped his Red Bull Racing teammate (who ran eighth).

Speed explained that he had carried more speed than the cars ahead of him into the final set of corners.

“He said I slowed down going into the corner,” Vickers said. “No (kidding)!”

NASCAR Race Number 16
Unofficial Race Results for the Camping World Rv Sales 200 Presented By
Turtle Wax - Saturday, June 27, 2009
New Hampshire Motor Speedway - Loudon, NH - 1.058 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 211.6 Miles - Purse: $
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 9 18 Kyle Busch Z-Line Designs Toyota 200 190 5 129.5 $44,120 Running 2 37
2 1 20 Joey Logano GameStop/Singularity Toyota 200 180 10 141.6 $39,675 Running 6 108
3 7 88 Brad Keselowski GoDaddy Chevrolet 200 165 106.9 $32,743 Running
4 10 1 Mike Bliss Miccosukee Championship Chevrolet 200 165 5 103.7 $37,043 Running 1 3
5 5 33 Kevin Harvick Copart Chevrolet 200 155 112.6 $21,475 Running
6 2 60 Carl Edwards Scotts/Ortho Ford 200 155 5 116.3 $20,200 Running 2 51
7 6 16 Greg Biffle CitiFinancial Ford 200 146 94.6 $18,650 Running
8 4 99 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota 200 142 111.4 $18,150 Running
9 11 6 Erik Darnell # Northern Tool + Equipment Ford 200 138 92.9 $25,193 Running
10 12 38 Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota 200 134 97.7 $24,818 Running
11 24 66 Steve Wallace USfidelis Chevrolet 200 130 89.0 $23,943 Running
12 8 32 Brian Vickers Dollar General Stores Toyota 200 127 112.5 $17,350 Running
13 13 12 Justin Allgaier # Verizon Wireless Dodge 200 124 85.1 $23,668 Running
14 3 29 Clint Bowyer Holiday Inn Chevrolet 200 121 90.9 $18,930 Running
15 16 47 Michael McDowell # Tom’s Toyota 200 118 80.4 $24,118 Running
16 14 11 Scott Lagasse Jr. # America’s Incredible Pizza Company Toyota 200 115 77.3 $23,543 Running
17 20 40 Scott Wimmer stoprepairbills.com Chevrolet 200 112 76.4 $23,118 Running
18 28 10 Elliott Sadler Auto Value Bumper to Bumper Toyota 200 109 73.0 $16,500 Running
19 31 15 Michael Annett # Pilot Travel Centers Toyota 200 111 5 72.6 $22,918 Running 1 1
20 21 28 Kenny Wallace U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet 199 103 70.1 $25,818 Running
21 38 62 Brendan Gaughan # 5-hour Energy ES Chevrolet 199 100 64.1 $22,793 Running
22 43 2 Sean Caisse RCR Chevrolet 198 97 59.0 $16,275 Running
23 23 27 Jason Keller Scott Products/Walmart Ford 198 94 66.8 $23,093 Running
24 35 61 Matthew Carter Shoffner Racing Ford 196 91 56.2 $22,653 Running
25 30 23 Ken Butler # Aaron’s Chevrolet 196 88 51.0 $22,768 Running
26 39 01 Danny O’Quinn Jr. sponsordavis.com Chevrolet 196 85 46.9 $22,583 Running
27 18 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet 196 82 58.2 $22,548 Running
28 36 09 John Wes Townley # Zaxby’s Ford 196 79 44.1 $22,513 Running
29 25 81 Bobby Hamilton Jr. DH Griffin Dodge 196 76 58.4 $22,478 Running
30 40 34 Tony Raines Long John Silver’s Chevrolet 196 73 44.5 $22,743 Running
31 34 72 Benny Gordon Samuel & Sons Ford 196 70 45.4 $15,940 Running
32 42 07 Chase Mattioli Qik Joe Chevrolet 192 67 33.0 $22,373 Running
33 41 24 Eric McClure Hefty Ford 176 64 37.2 $22,348 Engine
34 26 26 Brian Keselowski Fisher Honda Dodge 92 61 47.2 $22,328 Overheating
35 15 98 Paul Menard Richmond/Menards Ford 50 58 66.8 $15,840 Engine
36 32 49 Mark Green GetMoreVacations.com Chevrolet 23 55 41.1 $15,820 Brakes
37 33 73 Derrike Cope Derrike Cope Inc. Dodge 19 52 37.0 $15,800 Overheating
38 29 31 Travis Kittleson Bob Steele Chevrolet Chevrolet 13 49 35.1 $22,248 Overheating
39 27 52 Kevin Lepage Means Racing Chevrolet 13 46 36.1 $15,760 Ignition
40 22 05 Casey Atwood 31-W Insulation Chevrolet 8 43 40.3 $22,158 Rear End
41 19 91 Kelly Bires MSRP Motorsports Chevrolet 4 40 34.9 $15,670 Brakes
42 37 96 Willie Allen ConelyAuto.com Dodge 3 37 30.8 $15,650 Parked
43 17 90 Johnny Chapman MSRP Motorsports Chevrolet 2 34 33.4 $15,599 Brakes
Race Comments: Before an estimated crowd of 37,000 - Kyle Busch won the Camping World RV Sales 200 presented by Turtle Wax, his 26th NASCAR Nationwide Series victory and first at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Prior to the green flag no driver(s) dropped to the rear.
Failed to Qualify: (4) 41 Justin Hobgood, 89 Morgan Shepherd, 04 Kertus Davis, 0 Mike Wallace.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 53 Mins, 26 Secs. Average Speed: 111.925 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.617 Seconds
Caution Flags: 3 for 15 laps: Laps: 52-58 (Debris [10]); 107-110 (#81 Spun Turn 2 [11]); 158-161 (Debris [29]).
Lead Changes: 11 among 5 drivers: J. Logano 1-3; C. Edwards 4-6; J. Logano 7-53; M. Annett # 54; J. Logano 55-59; C. Edwards 60-107; J. Logano 108-146; K. Busch 147; J. Logano 148-158; M. Bliss 159-161; J. Logano 162-164; K. Busch 165-200.
Top 10 Driver Points: (1) K. Busch 2,581;(2) C. Edwards 2,419;(3) Brad Keselowski 2,338;(4) J. Leffler 2,261;(5) J. Logano 2,040;(6) M. Bliss 1,910;(7) J. Allgaier # 1,864;(8) B. Gaughan # 1,844;(9) S. Wallace 1,823;(10) J. Keller 1,810.
Featherlite Most Improved Driver : Kenny Wallace, #28 (13 Places) Mahle Clevite Engine Builder : Joey Logano, #20
Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race : Mike Bliss, #1 Pole Award : Joey Logano, #20 (128.902 mph)
Raybestos Rookie of the Race : Erik Darnell, #6 Reigning Champion/Next Highest : Clint Bowyer, #29
Sunoco Diamond Performance : Kyle Busch, #18 WIX Lap Leader : Mike Bliss, #1 (3 Laps)
Next Race: Jul. 3, 2009 - Daytona International Speedway