Category: RC XFINITY

Brad Keselowski won the 26th Annual ToyotaCare 250, his 21st victory in 196 NASCAR Nationwide Series races and his first victory of the season. Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and Regan Smith rounded out the top 5.

Keselowski started from the pole and cleared Busch into 2 but Busch did not let him go to far. Busch tried to get a slide job on Bad Brad but Sam Hornish Jr decided to make it 3 wide at the start finish line. Hornish cleared Busch going into one and led the race.

The first caution waved when the No. 92 of Dexter Stacey went way too fast into turn 1 and had a pretty hard wreck into the safety barriers. He was okay but it was a lengthy clean up. They had a 5 minute red flag because of the fluid from the No. 92 but when they got that cleaned up, it was time for pit stops! The top 10 did not pit but Smith, Kenny Wallace, Elliott Sadler and others came in for fuel and tires.

The race  went back to green on lap 41 with Hornish Jr leading. Harvick was  aggressive and got 2nd over Keselowski. Harvick closed in when Hornish got slowed up by lapped traffic on lap 70.  Harvick took the lead on lap 87 but on lap 88, Sadler was on a mission and took the lead one lap later.

The 2nd caution came out when the No. 99 of Alex Bowman cut a right front tire on the backstretch. Most everyone came in for the 1st time of the day and got 4 tires and fuel and Sadler led them out of pit road.

The green flag waved on lap 107 with Sadler leading them to the green. Sadler held them off but Harvick took the lead  on the backstretch and pulled away. On lap 144, Mike Wallace was spewing blue smoke out of the back of the car and he went to the pits and lost multiple laps.

Caution waved for the 3rd time with 101 to go because of the No 74 of Juan Carlos Blum smacked the wall coming off turn 4.  The leaders came in to pit and Harvick led them off pit road with Vickers gaining 3 spots and Reed Sorenson losing 4 spots.

Green flag waved once again and Keselowski took over the lead from Harvick! Busch was 3rd but Harvick was closing on Keselowski with 86 to go. Harvick took over the lead with 80 to go but got caught up in lap traffic.

The 4th caution waved with No. 17 of Tanner Berryhill spinning in the middle of turn 1. All of the leaders came in for what could be their last stop. Harvick went out of pit road first and lead them to the green followed by Sadler, Busch and Keselowski.

Green was waved once again with 54 to go and Harvick pulled away from Busch and Keselowski. Trevor Bayne got a penalty for changing lanes but before he could serve that, the caution came out for the #98 of Kevin Swindell who had a flat left rear tire and spun it off of 2.

Green flag waved with 41 to go and Keselowski and Harvick were beating and banging but Keselowski took over the lead right when a big wreck caused the caution flag to wave! Austin Dillon went hard into turn 4 and collected Justin Allgaier. Scott was able to drive away while Allgaier was getting repairs on pit road.  Dillon saw his car get taken off the track by the tow truck.

34 laps to go was when the green flag waved and Harvick and Keselowski were battling with Busch right behind them. Harvick and Keselowski were battling and Busch just went to the high side and took over Keselowski and Harvick at once, to take the lead! Mike Wallace was having smoke come from his car and was ordered to come to pit road. He did but then went back out and was still smoking which made NASCAR put out the caution.

Green was waved with 16 to go and Busch just shot out of there like a cannon! It did not last long because Mike Wallace was smoking again from his No. 01 machine.  Keselowski retook the lead with 10 to go and Harvick took 2nd away with 9 to go and put his sites on the No. 22. Harvick is to his bumper with 4 to go but could not get past him and Keselowski broke Busch’s streak of 3 in a row!

After the race, Brian Scott and Nelson Piquet Jr got into a altercation which Piquet kicked Scott in the groin before getting separated by their crew members.

Unofficial Race Results
ToyotaCare 250, Richmond Int’l Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=7
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	1	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Ford	0
2	4	33	Kevin Harvick(i)	Chevrolet	0
3	2	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Toyota	0
4	9	20	Brian Vickers	Toyota	40
5	16	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	39
6	14	11	Elliott Sadler	Toyota	39
7	3	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	38
8	18	32	Kyle Larson #	Chevrolet	36
9	17	60	Travis Pastrana	Ford	35
10	10	43	Reed Sorenson	Ford	34
11	30	77	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	33
12	7	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	32
13	20	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	31
14	23	30	Nelson Piquet Jr. #	Chevrolet	30
15	13	70	Johanna Long	Chevrolet	29
16	15	16	Ryan Reed	Ford	28
17	22	5	Jeffrey Earnhardt #	Chevrolet	27
18	21	98	Kevin Swindell #	Ford	26
19	19	4	Landon Cassill(i)	Chevrolet	0
20	8	2	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	24
21	27	8	Scott Lagasse Jr.	Chevrolet	23
22	26	0	Michael McDowell(i)	Toyota	0
23	25	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	21
24	28	44	Hal Martin #	Toyota	20
25	31	24	Blake Koch	Toyota	19
26	37	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	18
27	12	99	Alex Bowman #	Toyota	17
28	40	17	Tanner Berryhill	Chevrolet	16
29	39	74	Juan Carlos Blum #	Chevrolet	15
30	33	79	Joey Gase	Ford	14
31	11	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	13
32	38	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	12
33	36	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	11
34	35	40	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	10
35	6	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	9
36	5	29	Kenny Wallace	Toyota	8
37	32	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	7
38	34	92	Dexter Stacey #	Ford	6
39	29	42	JJ Yeley(i)	Chevrolet	0
40	24	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	4

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway for his third consecutive win his fourth of the season.  It marked his  sixth victory at the speedway.

Brad Keselowski finished second, Austin Dillon third, Dale Earnhardt Jr fourth and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-5.

Alex Bowman started on the pole for the first time in his young career.  Bowman led the first lap after Busch spun the tires. Keselowski went three wide to get fourth and Hornish Jr took over second on lap 2 as he looks like he had a very fast hot rod. Hornish battled with Bowman for the lead with Busch and Keselowski right behind the two. Hornish Jr took over the lead on the backstretch on lap 4. Keselowski took the lead on lap 23 when Hornish Jr was in lap traffic and it made Keselowski catch up to him and make the pass for the top position.

The first caution waved when the No.23 of Robert Richardson Jr spun his Chevy in turns 1 and 2. All of the leaders came in to pit and everybody took four tires and Busch led the field off of pit road. Hornish followed him in second.

They went back to green on lap 31 with Busch leading. There was three wide racing behind Busch and Hornish Jr. as they were trying to get every single position they could get.

The second caution waved when the No.32 of Kyle Larson was spinning in the front stretch and barley avoided Earnhardt Jr. They both escaped with no damage except for Larson, who has a flat tire. None of the front runners came in to pit due to being in pit road during the first caution. Justin Allgaier, who was 17th, was the first one to come onto pit lane. Larson was trying to keep up with the pace car but his left front tire blew and he almost hit the safety truck. He hit the wall to avoid it which seemed to be the right choice.

Green Flag waved on lap 50 when Busch continued to lead but was getting challenged from the two Penske cars. Keselowski took over the lead and pulled away from Busch.

Caution waved for the third time for debris. Everybody came in for their second pit stop of the day and Keselowski, Hornish Jr, Busch, Earnhardt Jr and Kevin Harvick did not take tires while Kasey Kahne and Regan Smith took four tires.

Green Flag was back out on Lap 70 with Busch leading them to the stripe. Hornish Jr did not waste any time and took over the lead but they could not  just take it easy as Kahne, who took four tires, was  coming fast. He passed Hornish on Lap 73 for the lead and it told all of the crew chiefs that tires will be very much needed for the end of the race.

Caution came out for the fourth time for debris in the same spot. Most drivers came in and everybody had a different strategy. Kahne took four tires but he has only one set of tires left for the reminder of the race. Elliott Sadler, Austin Dillon, Brian Scott and others took no tires and will start up in the front. Matt Kenseth, for crying out loud, did not even pit!

They restarted the race on lap 99 with Kenseth leading. He cleared Dillon and Sadler and led the following lap while they raced 3 wide in the middle of the pack. Hornish Jr restarted in 16th and within four laps, he was up to second. Hornish Jr was flying and  zoomed past Kenseth with 94 to go and took over the lead. Kahne has gotten through the traffic and has got to Hornish Jr and was battling for the lead with 89 to go. He took the lead in the Great Clips Jr. Motorsports car. Busch then took the lead from Kahne at the start finish line with 85 to go.

The fifth caution came out when the No.23 of Richardson Jr spun in the frontstretch while No. 4 of Landon Cassill was very slow on the backstretch. All of the leaders came in to pit with 78 laps to go. Hornish Jr, Earnhardt Jr and Kahne took no tires and came out first while Keselowski and other took four tires. Busch had trouble with some lug nuts and fell to 8th place on pit road.

Green flag waved once again with 73 to go with Hornish Jr leading but it was his teammate who came out with the lead one lap later. Hornish Jr fell back to 13th. Dillon and Busch battled for second while Keselowski pulled away with the lead.

The sixth caution waved when the No.92 of Dexter Stacey was basically drifting not spin out while the No.23 of Richardson Jr for the third time, spun onto the front stretch. When they went green, the action continued! Busch and Keselowski were battling but Hornish Jr spun out and has some damage! Junior and Vickers came in and got fuel while Junior got tires. Earnhardt Jr still has a set of tires on his pit box while most drivers do not have any tires left.

They went back racing with 52 laps to go with side by side battles all around the track. With 40 laps to go, Bayne said that he is overheating and that it is about 310 degrees. He had to come in to get new tires and get the debris off the car.

Caution came out for debris and everybody came in for what could be their final pit stops. Busch led them off as mostly everybody took four tires. Blake Koch took no tires and came out 7th but he will be sliding back really fast.

Once again the green flag waved, Busch just flew! He was pulling away and never looked back.

There were 22 lead changes among 11 drivers, both setting new track records.

Hornish Jr. now leads the series point standings by two points over Regan Smith.

Unofficial Race Results
O’Reilly 300, Texas Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=6
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	2	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Toyota	0
2	5	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Ford	0
3	3	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	41
4	11	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.(I)	Chevrolet	0
5	7	33	Kevin Harvick(i)	Chevrolet	0
6	9	18	Matt Kenseth(i)	Toyota	0
7	6	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	37
8	16	5	Kasey Kahne(i)	Chevrolet	0
9	13	20	Brian Vickers	Toyota	35
10	14	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	34
11	20	2	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	33
12	8	77	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	32
13	10	11	Elliott Sadler	Toyota	31
14	1	99	Alex Bowman #	Toyota	31
15	25	43	Reed Sorenson	Ford	29
16	17	98	Kevin Swindell #	Ford	28
17	23	16	Chris Buescher	Ford	27
18	19	30	Nelson Piquet Jr. #	Chevrolet	26
19	27	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	25
20	18	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	24
21	28	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	24
22	36	79	Jeffrey Earnhardt #	Ford	23
23	30	92	Dexter Stacey #	Ford	21
24	35	24	Blake Koch	Toyota	21
25	31	55	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	19
26	15	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	18
27	24	70	Johanna Long	Chevrolet	17
28	34	74	Kevin Lepage	Chevrolet	16
29	39	15	Juan Carlos Blum #	Ford	15
30	37	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	14
31	38	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	13
32	12	32	Kyle Larson #	Chevrolet	12
33	21	60	Travis Pastrana	Ford	11
34	4	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	11
35	22	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	10
36	26	4	Landon Cassill(i)	Chevrolet	0
37	33	40	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	7
38	32	44	Hal Martin #	Toyota	6
39	40	42	JJ Yeley(i)	Chevrolet	0
40	29	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	4

Amongst the mixed pit strategies, Kyle Busch wins the O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway for his fourth NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of the season in six starts this season.

 

Lap 1 Alex Bowman leads ahead of Kyle Busch while Hornish and Keselowski battle for third

Lap 2 Bowman leads Ky Busch Hornish Keselowski Dillon Smith Harvick Kenseth Sadler Larson

Lap 3 Hornish passes Busch second

Lap 5 Bowman and Hornish are side-by-side for the lead

Lap 6 Hornish Jr passes Bowman for the lead while Keselowski passes Ky Busch for third

Lap 7 Keselowski passes Bowman for second

Lap 8 Hornish leads Keselowski Bowman Ky Busch Dillon Smith Kenseth Sadler Vickers Harvick

Lap 10 Kenseth passes Dillon and Smith for position

Lap 19 Hornish leads Keselowski Ky Busch Kenseth Bowman Dillon Smith Sadler Vickers Kahne

Lap 22 Vickers and Kahne past Sadler for eighth and ninth

Lap 23 Keselowski and Hornish side-by-side for the lead and Keselowski takes the lead off of turn four

Caution Lap 24 Robert Richardson Jr. goes around in turn two after getting loose. Leaders head down pit road. Ky Busch leads Hornish off of pit road as they all take four tires. Eric McClure has got out of the car, handing the reins over to Jeff Green. Jamie Dick gets the lucky dog.

Restart lap 31 Kyle Busch gets the jump on the restart ahead of the field.

Lap 33 Busch leads Hornish Vickers Smith Keselowski Kenseth Dillon Kahne Harvick Larson

Lap 34 Keselowski passes Smith back for fourth

Lap 35 Kenseth passes Smith for fifth

Lap 37 Ky Busch leads Hornish Vickers Keselowski Kenseth Smith Kahne Dillon Harvick Larson

Lap 38 Keselowski passes Vickers for third

Lap 41 Kahne passes Smith for sixth; Earnhardt Jr. and Sadler pass Larson

Caution lap 43 Larson spins around off of turn four.  Top 16 stay out as some drivers at the back make their way down pit road. “We’re done, left front blew & I almost hit that (expletive) truck” Larson blew the left front on the backstretch & just missed safety truck.

Restart lap 50 Busch and Keselowski side-by-side through turns one and two. Busch holds the lead off of turn four as Hornish looks for second by Keselowski

Lap 52 Busch leads Keselowski Hornish Vickers Kenseth Kahne Smith Dillon Harvick Earnhardt Jr.

Lap 54 Keselowski looking under Busch for the lead going into turn three and gets the lead off of turn four. Keselowski to the lead.

Lap 56 Kahne passes Kenseth for fifth; Smith passes Kenseth for sixth

Caution lap 65 debris in turn three on the high side. Leaders head down pit road – some just get fuel, some get tires. Keselowski leads Hornish Ky Busch Earnhardt Harvick Kahne Smith Vickers Dillon and Sadler off of pit road. Top five took no tires. Teams have five sets of tires for the race. Dexter Stacey got the lucky dog.

Restart lap 69 as Hornish and Keselowski go into turns one and two side-by-side for the lead. Hornish grabs the lead off of turn four from Keselowski.

Lap 72 Hornish leads Kahne Keselowski Vickers Ky Busch

Lap 73 Hornish and Kahne side-by-side for the lead as Kahne grabs the lead off of turn two

Lap 75 Kahne leads Vickers Hornish Keselowski Smith Busch Sadler Dillon Bayne Bowman

Lap 76 Sadler passes Busch

Lap 77 Dillon passes Busch

Lap 78 Bayne passes Busch

Lap 79 Bowman passes Busch

Lap 80 Kahne leads Vickers Hornish Smith Keselowski Sadler Dillon Bayne Bowman Busch…..Smith passes Hornish; Sadler passes Keselowski

Lap 82 Dillon and Bayne passes Keselowski

Lap 83 Kahne leads Vickers Smith Sadler Dillon Hornish Bayne Keselowski Bowman Kenseth

Caution lap 93 debris at the bottom of turn three. Leaders head down pit road. Mix of strategies. Sadler leads Dillon Vicker Bowman Smith Bayne Scott Allgaier Swindell and Kligermann of pit road. Kenseth stays out to take the lead.

Restart lap 99 Kenseth and Sadler are side-by-side into turns one and two as Kenseth pulls off the corner in the lead

Lap 100 Kenseth leads Dillon Sadler Hornish Bowman Vickers Kahne Allgaier Bayne and Smith

99 to go Earnhardt Jr., Busch and Keselowski pass Smith; Hornish passes Dillon for second

97 to go Kenseth leads Hornish Dillon Sadler Kahne Bowman Busch Earnhardt Keselowski Vickers

96 to go Kahne passes Sadler, and then Dillon

94 to go Hornish passes Kenseth for the lead

93 to go Hornish leads Kenseth Kahne Busch Dillon Keselowski Earnhardt Sadler Bowman Vickers

92 to go Sadler makes an unscheduled pit stop so put Bowman eighth and Vickers ninth

90 to go Hornish leads Kahne Busch Kenseth Keselowski Earnhardt Dillon Bowman Harvick Vickers

89 to go Kahne passes Hornish for the lead

Lap 115 Kyle Busch to the lead past Kasey Kahne

81 to go Busch leads Kahne Keselowski Hornish Earnhardt Kenseth Harvick Dillon Bowman Vickers

80 to go Landon Cassill slow down the backstretch – Caution as Richardson Jr. goes for a slide through the frontstretch grass. Leaders head down pit road for a mix of fuel and tires again. Hornish leads Earnhardt Kahne Keselowski Vickers Dillon Harvick Kenseth Ky Busch M Wallace. Kenseth was too fast off pit road so he will go to the rear. Nelson Piquet gets the lucky dog.

Restart 73 to go Hornish and Earnhardt side-by-side off through turns one and two for the lead. Keselowski grabs the lead off of four ahead of Earnhardt and Dillon

70 to go Keselowski leads Dillon Busch Earnhardt Harvick Kahne Bowman Vickers Allgaier Smith; Allgaer passes Vickers

69 to go Busch passes Dillon for second

68 to go Harvick and Bowman pass Earnhardt; Vickers, Bayne, Allgaier, Smith and Swindell pass Kahne

Caution 67 to go Dexter Stacey goes around off of turn four. Richardson Jr. spins to avoid Stacey. Leaders stay out. Kasey Kahne puts the set of tires he ran earlier in the race back on while Hornish gets fresh tires. Sadler fuel only.

Restart 60 to go Keselowski and Busch side-by-side for the lead

Caution 59 to go Hornish and Clements wreck after making contact while racing for position. Leaders stay out. Vickers gets fuel only while Earnhardt comes and gets one of his two sets of tires left. Kahne fixing right rear damage.

Restart 52 to go Busch and Keselowski side-by-side for the lead

51 to go Busch to the lead ahead of Keselowski

50 to go Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dillon Bowman Bayne Allgaier Smith Kligerman Scott. Earnhardt from 22nd to 12th in two laps

48 to go Bayne passes Bowman. Earnhardt Jr. passes Swindell for 11^th

46 to go Scott and Earnhart pass Kligerman

43 to go Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dllon Bowman Bayne Allgaier Smith Earnhardt Scott

39 to go Bayne to pit road, unscheduled, with overheating issues

36 to go Busch Keselowski Harvick Dillon Bowman Earnhardt

34 to go Caution for debris in turn three. Leaders head down pit road. Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Earnhardt Dillon Koch Bowman Scott Vickers Allgaier.

Restart 29 to go Keselowski and Busch side-by-side into turns one and two. Busch grabs the advantage off of turn two.

27 to go Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dillon Bowman Earnhardt Vickers Scott Smith Kenseth

25 to go Earnhardt, Vickers and Scott pass Bowman

24 to go Smith passes Bowman……Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dillon Earnhardt Vickers Scott Smith Kenseth and Allgaier.

23 to go Smith passes Scott

21 to go Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dillon Earnhardt Vickers Smith Scott Kenseth and Allgaier

19 to go Kenseth passes Scott for eighth

15 to go Allgaier passes Scott for ninth

14 to go Smith and Kenseth pass Vickers

12 to go Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dillon Earnhardt Smith Kenseth Vickers Kahne Allgaier

8 to go Dillon passes Harvick; Kenseth passes Smith; Scott passes Allgaier

5 to go Kahne passes Vickers; Allgaier passes Scott back

3 to go Earnhardt Jr. passes Harvick for fourth

2 to go Kenseth and Smith pass Harvick for fifth and sixth

Kyle Busch wins at Texas. Keselowski. Dillon. Earnhardt. Harvick. Kenseth. Smith. Kahne. Vickers. Allgaier.

Unofficial Race Results
O’Reilly 300, Texas Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=6
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	2	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Toyota	0
2	5	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Ford	0
3	3	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	41
4	11	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.(I)	Chevrolet	0
5	7	33	Kevin Harvick(i)	Chevrolet	0
6	9	18	Matt Kenseth(i)	Toyota	0
7	6	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	37
8	16	5	Kasey Kahne(i)	Chevrolet	0
9	13	20	Brian Vickers	Toyota	35
10	14	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	34
11	20	2	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	33
12	8	77	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	32
13	10	11	Elliott Sadler	Toyota	31
14	1	99	Alex Bowman #	Toyota	31
15	25	43	Reed Sorenson	Ford	29
16	17	98	Kevin Swindell #	Ford	28
17	23	16	Chris Buescher	Ford	27
18	19	30	Nelson Piquet Jr. #	Chevrolet	26
19	27	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	25
20	18	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	24
21	28	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	24
22	36	79	Jeffrey Earnhardt #	Ford	23
23	30	92	Dexter Stacey #	Ford	21
24	35	24	Blake Koch	Toyota	21
25	31	55	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	19
26	15	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	18
27	24	70	Johanna Long	Chevrolet	17
28	34	74	Kevin Lepage	Chevrolet	16
29	39	15	Juan Carlos Blum #	Ford	15
30	37	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	14
31	38	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	13
32	12	32	Kyle Larson #	Chevrolet	12
33	21	60	Travis Pastrana	Ford	11
34	4	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	11
35	22	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	10
36	26	4	Landon Cassill(i)	Chevrolet	0
37	33	40	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	7
38	32	44	Hal Martin #	Toyota	6
39	40	42	JJ Yeley(i)	Chevrolet	0
40	29	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	4

Kyle Busch won the 15th Annual NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Royal Purple 300.  This was Busch’s sixth victory and 12th top-10 finish in 15 races at Auto Club Speedway.

This was Busch’s third victory of the season and the fourth top-10 finish in 2013.

Sam Hornish Jr. finished second, Regan Smith third, Parker Kligerman fourth  and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-5.

“It feels really good. We started off the year just the way we wanted to and have made sure we took care of the car throughout the first five races as well as we could. We wanted to get out of the box good and I preached that to the team in the off-season.” Hornish said posting his fifth top-10 finish this season.

Busch started on the pole but Sadler took over the lead on lap 2 and started to put some ground on the other leaders while Busch battled with Brad Keselowski, Hornish Jr. and Brian Vickers.

Sadler was pulling away when all of a sudden he started to slow down and went down to the apron of the track.  Sadler switched ignition switches and able to continue.

The first caution waved on lap 33 for debris when the No.7 of Smith blew the left front tire of his JR Motorsports car and threw some tire pieces on the race track to cause the caution. All of the leaders came in to pit for the first stop of the day. Everyone took four tires but the lead did not change as Busch came in first and came out first. Vickers, Hornish Jr, Scott and Sadler came out of the pits in the top-5.

Restart was on lap 38 with Busch leading while everybody was going two, three or even four wide.  Busch kept the lead while Hornish Jr. passed Vickers for second place. Hornish then gained little every lap and was battling Busch for the lead on lap 41 and took over the lead. Busch battled back took over the lead two laps later.

The Caution came out right after Busch took over the lead when the No.79 of Paulie Harraka just went up in flames on the backstretch. Harraka got out of the car and was okay.

The green flag waved on lap 50 with Hornish Jr. and Busch battling for the lead with Hornish Jr.  Busch took over the lead on lap 54 while Vickers was telling his crew that something was not right with the car and went into the pits.

Green flag pit stops occurred on lap 78 with the No.32 of Kyle Larson came in for his second pit stop of the day. Scott also came in saying his car is pretty good but he just needs a little more tightness in the car and it will be real good. Keselowksi came in and told his crew he was “wrecking loose” but it was getting better. Hornish Jr. and Sadler came in and has solid stops and was away. Busch finally came in on lap 81 and finished his stop but came out second due to Hornish Jr. took over the top spot due to coming in two laps earlier and had faster tires. Busch did not seem fazed by that as he took Hornish Jr. for the lead and pulled away.

With 57 laps to go, the caution came out for debris on the race track. Everybody came into the pits but nobody will be able to make it as they will be about 10-12 laps short of making it to the good. Everybody took four tires except for the No.2 of Brian Scott as Scott took no tires and came out first out of pit lane.

The green flag waved on lap 100 and with Scott having no tires, he just flew back into the pack as Busch and Hornish Jr took over the lead like they have been doing the entire race.

The caution waved with 39 laps to go when Jason White and Mike Harmon got together coming off of turn 4. All but one of the leaders came in for their “money” stop. Most everyone did not take tires as all they needed was fuel. Hornish Jr. came out first with Busch right behind him. Scott was the only one that took tires as he did not take tires the last stop while the others did. Keselowski did not pit and will lead them back to the green with 35 laps to go.

Green waved with 35 laps to go and all the guys were up on the gas ready to go! Hornish over took his teammate on the backstretch to regain the lead while the young stud of Larson was battling Busch for third. Busch passed Keselowski for second and set his sights on Hornish Jr.

Brad Sweet spun coming onto the backstretch with 27 to go but no caution flag. Busch got a great run off the corner and past Hornish Jr. for the lead. Hornish Jr. was slowly gaining on Busch but with two laps to go, Hornish Jr. smacked the outside wall trying to get as much as he could but came up one spot short.

Hornish Jr. leads the series point standings by 28 points over Regan Smith.

Unofficial Race Results
Royal Purple 300, Auto Club Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=5
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	1	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Toyota	0
2	7	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	43
3	16	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	41
4	8	77	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	40
5	11	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	39
6	9	32	Kyle Larson #	Chevrolet	38
7	2	11	Elliott Sadler	Toyota	38
8	12	2	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	37
9	15	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	35
10	17	98	Kevin Swindell #	Ford	34
11	18	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	33
12	6	99	Alex Bowman #	Toyota	32
13	14	60	Travis Pastrana	Ford	31
14	22	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	31
15	13	33	Dakoda Armstrong(i)	Chevrolet	0
16	5	30	Nelson Piquet Jr. #	Chevrolet	28
17	19	43	Reed Sorenson	Ford	27
18	10	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	26
19	4	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Ford	0
20	24	40	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	24
21	23	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	24
22	21	5	Brad Sweet	Chevrolet	22
23	26	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	21
24	34	44	Hal Martin #	Toyota	20
25	29	55	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	19
26	40	92	Dexter Stacey #	Ford	18
27	37	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	17
28	27	4	Daryl Harr	Chevrolet	16
29	38	15	Juan Carlos Blum #	Ford	15
30	36	23	Carl Long	Ford	14
31	39	74	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	13
32	33	24	Blake Koch	Toyota	12
33	35	0	Jason White	Toyota	11
34	3	20	Brian Vickers	Toyota	10
35	28	79	Paulie Harraka	Ford	9
36	30	27	Michael McDowell(i)	Toyota	0
37	20	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	7
38	31	42	JJ Yeley(i)	Chevrolet	0
39	25	47	Scott Riggs(i)	Chevrolet	0
40	32	52	Joey Gase	Toyota	4

At the end of final practice for the Nationwide Series, it’d be last year’s rookie of the year Austin Dillon topping the charts with a lap of 40.728 seconds. Dillon is looking to rebound after finishing 11th last week at Bristol Motor Speedway. He finished fifth at Auto Club Speedway last year.

Kyle Larson would time in second, 0.232 seconds off of Dillon. This marks Larson’s first start at Auto Club Speedway as he continues to learn the ropes. Larson showcased his talent last week at Bristol following a thrilling last lap battle with Kyle Busch for the lead where Larson would lose by inches.

Elliott Sadler would time in third as he looks to bounce back after engine problems last week at Bristol Motor Speedway. Sadler finished ninth last year at Fontana.

Last week’s pole sitter Justin Allgaier was fourth, followed by points leader Sam Hornish Jr.

Last week’s race winner Kyle Busch was sixth as he looks for his sixth win at Fontana. He was followed by Regan Smith, Nelson Piquet Jr., Dakoda Armstrong and Kevin Swindell.

Nationwide Series qualifying takes place tomorrow morning, with the race following in the afternoon at 5pm EST.

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway in what was a thrilling end to a great race. Busch beat Kyle Larson by .023 seconds.

Larson finished second, Brian Vickers third, Sam Hornish Jr. fourth and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-5.

Allgaier led the field to the green flag and led the first lap at the Bullring of Bristol. Jeff Green was the first start and park when he took his No.10 car to the garage. Dillon and Keselowski made contact with each other but both continued on the race track.  On lap 24, Allgaier was approaching lap traffic and the No.7 of Smith caught up to him but could not complete the pass.

The first caution waved on lap 27 when the No.55 of Jamie Dick spun it and did a 360 but was okay and drove away. They went back to green on lap 31 with Allgaier continuing to lead.

The second caution waved on lap 60 when the No.5 of Brad Sweet spun it out on the backstretch. Sweet has had a tough weekend as he had a huge wreck with Joey Gase in practice and had to go to a backup car. Pit stops occurred for the first time this afternoon with all of the leaders coming in. The unique thing is, at Bristol, there is half of the pit road on the front stretch and half of the pit road on the back stretch. Bayne and Brian Scott only took 2 tires and will lead them to the green flag.

Green Flag was waved and Bayne led them around the track. Bayne led for eight laps before he got pressured by Busch for the top spot. Elliott Sadler was not having a good day and he got lapped on lap 75 telling his crew “That it will not run good and continued to fall back and on lap 88, he went to the garage after getting black flagged by NASCAR.

The third caution waved on lap 107 when the No.55 of Dick got spun by Vickers and then Nelson Piquet Jr had no room to go and t-boned into Dick’s car.  Busch, Keselowski and Smith stay out while Harvick and Bayne come in so it will be interesting to see what will happen.

They restarted on lap 118 with Busch leading  but was only 5 laps till the next caution coming out when the No.51 of Jeremy Clements slapped the wall in turn 2, sending debris down on the track. None of the leaders came in to pit.

Lap 130 they restarted and Busch continued to lead in the KBM Monster Energy ride but had to hold off the Discount tire car of Keselowski.

Lap 164 was when the yellow waved again for a big wreck in turn 1. The 70 of Brad Teague got into the No.44 of Hal Martin and collected Jeffery Earnhardt and Austin Dillon. Reed Sorenson also had some damage. All of the leaders came in and Keselowski led the field off of pit road. Allgaier was too fast exiting and had to go to the back of the field for the restart.

They restarted the race and Smith and Keselowski were battling it out for the lead. That did not last long as the caution came out once again for debris.

The restart came on lap 183 with Smith,Keselowski and Harvick all battling for the lead. Smith and Keselowski were battling and caught a lap car and bumped fenders and Smith feel back to 4th. Keselowski was battling a tire rub and it finally blew out on the backstretch and Harvick over took the lead. Keselowski came to pit road to repair the car and the caution came out for debris the following lap.

The green waved with 100 to go and Harvick cleared Busch as he was battling Hornish Jr for second. Busch finally cleared him and set his sights on the No.33.  Busch finally got to his bumper with 67 to go but could not finish the pass. Busch then tried the low side but could not work.  They finally got into lap traffic and were really close in couple of turns but they both raced safely and Busch took the lead with 58 to go. Larson was getting faster and faster each lap and finally got to the leaders and were 3 wide battling for the lead when the lap car of Robert Richardson JR got in the way and Larson bumped into him. Larson got little damage but it will not hurt him and he will be alright.

The caution waved for the 8th time when the No.00 of Jason White blew a tire. Nobody came in except for Harvick, who was 2nd, and Smith. It will be Busch vs Larson on the restart.

Restarted the race with 27 to go and Busch kept the lead. Larson tried to get Busch loose but held his car off of the No.54 and let him go. Harvick, who came in to pit road during the caution, has made up three positions since the restart.

Larson ran the fastest lap of the race with seven to go and was on Busch’s bumper with six to go. Larson got to the corner of Busch’s car but did not wreck him on the final lap and Busch won it by .023 seconds!

Unofficial Race Results
Grit Chips 300, Bristol Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=4
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	13	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Toyota	0
2	12	32	Kyle Larson #	Chevrolet	42
3	14	20	Brian Vickers	Toyota	41
4	3	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	40
5	7	33	Kevin Harvick(i)	Chevrolet	0
6	4	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	38
7	11	16	Chris Buescher	Ford	37
8	1	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	37
9	16	77	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	35
10	8	2	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	34
11	2	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	33
12	10	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	33
13	9	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	31
14	15	99	Alex Bowman #	Toyota	30
15	6	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Ford	0
16	18	60	Travis Pastrana	Ford	28
17	34	25	John Wes Townley(i)	Toyota	0
18	17	43	Reed Sorenson	Ford	26
19	26	40	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	25
20	29	15	Scott Riggs(i)	Ford	0
21	24	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	23
22	27	5	Brad Sweet	Chevrolet	22
23	33	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	21
24	20	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	20
25	39	24	Blake Koch	Toyota	19
26	31	92	Dexter Stacey #	Ford	18
27	37	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	17
28	36	74	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	16
29	38	70	Brad Teague	Toyota	15
30	35	0	Jason White	Toyota	14
31	25	44	Hal Martin #	Toyota	13
32	30	79	Jeffrey Earnhardt #	Ford	12
33	22	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	11
34	19	30	Nelson Piquet Jr. #	Chevrolet	10
35	32	55	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	9
36	5	11	Elliott Sadler	Toyota	8
37	28	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	7
38	21	42	JJ Yeley(i)	Chevrolet	0
39	23	46	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	5
40	40	27	Michael McDowell(i)	Toyota	0

Ducking through lap traffic, taking any line they could to get to the line and bumping along the way, Kyle Busch would beat Kyle Larson to the line by 0.023 seconds. It marks Busch’s second Nationwide Series victory of 2013.

 

Green flag – Allgaier clears Dillon on the outside as pole sitter through turns one and two

Lap 2 Allgaier leads Dillon and Smith. Nemechek gets shot up, scrapes wall and continues.

Lap 4 Smith passes Dillon for second

Lap 15 Allgaier leads Smith Dillon Keselowski and Harvick

Lap 25 Allgaier leads Smith Keselowski

Caution lap 26 Jamie Dick spins. Brad Sweets get the free pass. Leaders stay out.

Restart lap 33 Allgaier once again pulls ahead, leaving Smith to battle for second with Harvick.

Lap 34 Harvick passes Smith for second.

Lap 38 Allgaier leads Harvick Smith Keselowski…..Sadler gets shuffled out of the groove, gets into the wall. No caution.

Lap 41 Allgaier leads Harvick Smith Keselowski Ky Busch Hornish Dillon Scott Bayne and Larson

Caution. Lap 60. Brad Sweet goes for a spin. Been a tough weekend for the young driver. Suffered a hard wreck in practice. Leaders head down pit road for pit stops. Bayne leads Scott Allgaier Ky Busch off pit road. They took two tires.

Restart lap 66 Bayne leads while Scott and Ky Busch battle for second. Sadler loses multiple spots with mechanical issues.

Lap 71 Bayne leads Ky Busch Scott Smith Harvick Keselowski Allgaier Hornish Larson and Vickers

Lap 73 Ky Busch alongside Bayne for the lead.

Lap 76 Larson, Vickers, Sorenson, Dillon all pass Hornish for position while Ky Busch uses the lap car of Brad Teague as a pick to take the lead past Bayne

Lap 84 Keselowski passes Scott, Harvick and Smith

Lap 85 Ky Busch leads Keselowski Bayne Scott Smith Harvick Larson Allgaier Dillon and Vickers. Sadler to pit road with motor problems.

Caution Lap 106 Jamie Dick and Nelson Piquet Jr. wreck hard on the front stretch. Looks like Vickers gave Dick a tap coming up off of turn four. Dick was a lap car. Top two stay out with some of the other leaders. Kevin Harvick was the first person (3rd) to pit.

Restart lap 119 Ky Busch holds the lead.

Lap 122 Jeremy Clements gets into the wall.

Caution lap 123 debris from Clements brings out caution.

Restart lap 129 Ky busch drives out ahead of the field, leading Keselowski

Lap 131 Ky Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dillon Allgaier

Lap 134 Ky Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dillon Allgaier Smith Hornish Bayne Vickers Larson….Keselowski has caught up to Kusch’s rear bumper

Lap 137 Dillon gets loose through the corners, falls back to sixth as he is passed by Allgaier and Smith

Lap 142 Vickers and Larson pass Bayne

Lap 143 Hornish passes Dillon for sixth

Lap 148 Ky Busch leads Keselowski Allgaier Harvick Smith Hornish Dillon Vickers Larson Bayne

Halfway.

Lap 160 Caution Sorenson, Dillon, Jeffery Earnhardt, Hal Martin – Martin spins across the track after going across Teague’s nose, comes up across the track and collects the rest. Martin expresses his displeasure with Teague, showing a clapping motion. Martin slid up across Teague’s nose, wasn’t quite clear. Martin was on lead lap. Teague is eight laps down. Leaders head down pit road. Keselowski leads Ky Busch Harvick Allgaier off pit road. Allgaier suffers a penalty for being too fast on pit road, has to restart at the tail end.

Restart lap 172 Keselowski and Busch side-by-side for the lead.

Lap 173 Keselowski leads as Busch fights for second with Smith.

Lap 174 Keselowski leads Smith Busch and Harvick

Lap 177 Keselowski and Smith battle for the lead side by side….Caution for debris. Leader determined to be Keselowski by last scoring loop. Keselowski leads Smith Busch and Harvick. Austin Dillon gets the lucky dog. He made an extra pit stop the last time to work on the front end after earlier damage. Both Keselowski and Harvick hit the piece of debris – sway bar arm.

Restart lap 184 Keselowski and Smith side-by-side for the lead.

Lap 185 keselowski with the slight advantage at the line as Harvick looks for second past Smith.

Lap 189 Smith gets loose under Keselowski, saves it and falls back to fourth. Keselowski has a tire rub. Keselowski leads Harvick Busch while Hornish and Smith battle for fourth.

Lap 193 Keselowski leads Harvick

Lap 194 Keselowski blows the tire, gets into the wall and bounces off Harvick. Harv leads Ky Busch and Smith

Lap 195 Caution for debris.

Restart 100 to go Harvick grabs the lead ahead of Busch

94 to go Harvick leads Ky Busch Hornish Larson Smith Vickers Scott Allgaier Buescher Bayne

76 laps to go Harvick leads Ky Busch Larson Hornish Smith Vickers Scott Allgaier Buescher Bayne

68 laps to go Harvick and Ky Busch are side-by-side for the lead. Harvick stays ahead of Ky Busch.

62 laps to go Ky Busch gets by Harvick for the lead through lap traffic

60 laps to go Ky Busch leads Harvick Larson Hornish Smith Vickers Allgaier Scott Buescher Kligerman

45 laps to go Ky Busch, Harvick and Larson find themselves in the midst of a three-way battle for the lead. Larson made slight contact with a lap car, continues on.

39 to go Ky Busch leads Harvick Larson Hornish Smith Vickers Allgaier Scott Buescher Kligerman

Caution 35 to go Jason White up against the tire after a flat tire. Ky Busch stays out, Harvick pits. Harvick says he’s terrible on the bottom and felt right to pit as he would restart there. Smith and Harvick to pit road, the rest stay out.

28 to go .. KyBusch Larson Hornish Vickers Allgaier Scott Kligerman Harvick Smith CBuescher Dillon Bliss Bowman.

Restart 27 to go Larson and Busch side-by-side for the lead. Busch clears him off of turn four, Larson second.

23 laps to go Harvick passes Hornish for fifth. Ky Busch leads Larson Vickers Scott Harvick Hornish Allgaier Smith Buescher Kligerman

13 laps to go Harvick and Scott both get up by the wall. Hornish passes them both.

10 laps to go Smith passes Allgaier

Lap cars ahead, Busch takes bottom, Larson takes top…..Busch wins by inches as they bump across the line

Ky Busch. Larson. Vickers. Hornish. Harvick. Smith. Buescher. Kligerman. Allgaier. Scott.

Unofficial Race Results
Grit Chips 300, Bristol Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=4
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	13	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Toyota	0
2	12	32	Kyle Larson #	Chevrolet	42
3	14	20	Brian Vickers	Toyota	41
4	3	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	40
5	7	33	Kevin Harvick(i)	Chevrolet	0
6	4	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	38
7	11	16	Chris Buescher	Ford	37
8	1	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	37
9	16	77	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	35
10	8	2	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	34
11	2	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	33
12	10	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	33
13	9	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	31
14	15	99	Alex Bowman #	Toyota	30
15	6	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Ford	0
16	18	60	Travis Pastrana	Ford	28
17	34	25	John Wes Townley(i)	Toyota	0
18	17	43	Reed Sorenson	Ford	26
19	26	40	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	25
20	29	15	Scott Riggs(i)	Ford	0
21	24	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	23
22	27	5	Brad Sweet	Chevrolet	22
23	33	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	21
24	20	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	20
25	39	24	Blake Koch	Toyota	19
26	31	92	Dexter Stacey #	Ford	18
27	37	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	17
28	36	74	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	16
29	38	70	Brad Teague	Toyota	15
30	35	0	Jason White	Toyota	14
31	25	44	Hal Martin #	Toyota	13
32	30	79	Jeffrey Earnhardt #	Ford	12
33	22	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	11
34	19	30	Nelson Piquet Jr. #	Chevrolet	10
35	32	55	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	9
36	5	11	Elliott Sadler	Toyota	8
37	28	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	7
38	21	42	JJ Yeley(i)	Chevrolet	0
39	23	46	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	5
40	40	27	Michael McDowell(i)	Toyota	0

Sam Hornish Jr won the 17th Annual Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his first win of the season and his second career Nationwide Series win.

“This feels awesome. The car was great. One of the things I said when we did the ride around was what a great crowd we had here. I didn’t know until this morning that this was the Sam’s Town 300. It is kinda cool that I was able to win it. I have to thank all the people at Penke Racing and Roush Yates engines for giving us this opportunity.” Hornish said.

Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Trevor Bayne and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-5.

Vickers started on the pole after they cancelled qualifying and had practice instead due to practice getting rained out yesterday. Austin Dillon led the practice and was the fastest in the 10 lap averages.  Vickers led the first lap and got a couple car lengths over Dillon in the first few laps. Brad Keselowski radioed to his crew chief that the car was kinda weird and felt that they did not tighten all the tires but he radioed back saying it was fine after a couple laps.

First caution waved very early in the race on lap 4 when the No.14 of Eric McClure blew up on the back of turn 2 and onto the backstretch. Nobody came into pit due to being so early in the race.

The race restarted on lap 8 with Vickers still leading. Dillon overtook Vickers on the backstretch and led the following lap by a nose. Vickers overtook Dillon and retained the lead on lap 10. Keselowski took the lead over Vickers on lap 21 and drove away after Vickers got loose from the bumps in turn 1 and Keselowski took advantage. Dale Jr, who started 32nd, was up to 15th on lap 24.

The second caution waved for the competition caution due to the rain yesterday and since they only had practice today, they wanted the teams to check tire wear, handling and other things.  All of the lead lap guy came and and most people took four tires except for Bayne and Regan Smith who took two tires. Dale Jr gained four spots on pit road coming out 10th while Brian Scott lost four positions and came out 9th.

Green Flag waved on lap 41 with Bayne leading and Busch made it three wide into turn one to gain as many spots as possible . Bayne led the lap but it was not easy as Smith and Vickers were coming in a hurry.

The third caution waved on lap 55 when the No.87 of Joe Nemechek got together with the No.01 of Mike Wallace. Wallace hit the bumps in turn 1 and slide up the track into Nemechek. Nobody in the top 10 came in except for Bayne. Some Cars looked like they were coming in but faked it and left Bayne out to dry. He will restart 15th.

Smith restarted on lap 61 but was three wide with Hornish Jr and Vickers onto the backstretch. Hornish took the lead on lap 62 while Vickers and Smith were battling for second.

The fourth yellow flag is out on lap 81 when the No.23 of Robert  Richardson Jr got loose in turn 2 and spun out but did not hit anything. Everybody came onto pit road and some hit some different plans then others. Bayne and Kyle Larson took fuel only and came out with the lead while Dillon, Alex Bowman, Nelson Piquet Jr and Scott all took two tires. The leaders, Hornish and Keselowski, took four tires and both lost six places.

We went back to green only for a lap when the two leaders got together and both smacked the wall. Bayne got loose and got the left rear of Larson and got both of them in trouble. Larson has got some pretty good damage while Bayne has got right side damage. Bayne response to the wreck? “This kid(Larson) is going to learn a lesson one of these days.” Larson was heard saying on his radio “Did I do anything wrong?” “I didn’t do nothin’ wrong there, did I? His crew told him he did nothing wrong.

“We have to take bad days, and this should have been a 12th place day after we wrecked, and we finished fourth. We had a chance to win it at the end and didn’t get position on them. I am really proud.” Bayne said after the race.

Dillon restarted the race on lap 92 with Vickers right bedside him as the leader due to the crash of Larson and Bayne. Dillon got overtook by Vickers on the backstretch on lap 93 but Hornish went passed Vickers on lap 94 and pulled away.

On lap 118, Keselowski came in and said something was not right and got four tires and fuel. He reported earlier in the race that he thought he had a loose wheel but he could deal with it. He came in and got some stuff our of the grill and it settled the temps down. It did not fix it though as his splitter was falling apart and had to come to the pit road to repair it on lap 136.  When asked about what caused the vibration, Keselowski said ““I don’t know. We don’t know or we would have it fixed by now. It is disappointing because the Discount Tire Ford was really fast. It looks like my teammate Sam Hornish is really fast. Something just broke in the mid part of the race and we couldn’t figure it out. It kept getting worse and worse. Something was broke in the front end. It just wasn’t going to run in lap speed and something eventually broke really big going down the straightaway and we needed to get off the track before we got somebody else wrecked or brought out a yellow. It is just really unfortunate.”

Caution came out on lap 138 for debris right after the No.77 of Parker Kilgerman went to the garage. Most of the drivers were happy because it was about time for green flag pit stops. They came down and got four tires and fuel and Busch came out first. Everybody was told save fuel as it will be really close if they need to make one more stop or if they can make it to the finish. Earnhardt Jr. came in and got fuel with one to go in order to make it all the way.

Race restarted with Busch leading and Vickers right beside him. Vickers took the lead as Busch got high into four. They continued to battle for the lead for multiple laps until Vickers got really lose in one, from the bumps, and slide back to third while Hornish was getting pressure on Busch for the top spot. Hornish took the lead the next lap.

Just when we thought everybody was going to have to save fuel, the caution comes out. The No.8 of Scott Lagasse Jr spun out on turn 1 and onto the banking to bring out the 6th caution of the afternoon. Brad Sweet got the free pass and none of the leaders came in but Travis Pastrana, Ty Dillon and couple others came in and made assure that they would make it to the finish on fuel.

We went back to green with 13 to go and Busch leading. As they battled for the lead, They were wrecking behind them. Joey Gase got together with Larson sending them both into the wall. Larson”s car was on fire and he got out and was okay as Gase drove his car to pit road. Dale Jr will get the free pass to make 14 cars on the lead lap. Larson finished 32nd.

Hornish Jr led the field to the green with seven laps to go with Busch right besides him. Busch and Hornish Jr were side by side by the start finish line but Hornish cleared Busch into turn 1 and never looked back.

Unofficial Race Results
Sam’s Town 300, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=3
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	7	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	48
2	23	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Toyota	0
3	1	20	Brian Vickers	Toyota	42
4	2	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	41
5	15	11	Elliott Sadler	Toyota	39
6	4	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	39
7	12	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	38
8	18	99	Alex Bowman #	Toyota	36
9	3	2	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	35
10	31	60	Travis Pastrana	Ford	34
11	5	33	Ty Dillon(i)	Chevrolet	0
12	17	5	Brad Sweet	Chevrolet	32
13	11	30	Nelson Piquet Jr. #	Chevrolet	31
14	32	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.(i)	Chevrolet	0
15	10	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	29
16	9	43	Reed Sorenson	Ford	28
17	20	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	27
18	21	51	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	0
19	27	70	Johanna Long	Chevrolet	25
20	40	8	Scott Lagasse Jr.	Chevrolet	24
21	22	24	Blake Koch	Toyota	23
22	36	55	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	22
23	37	92	Dexter Stacey #	Ford	21
24	14	44	Hal Martin #	Toyota	20
25	26	40	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	19
26	34	79	Jeffrey Earnhardt #	Ford	19
27	16	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	17
28	30	15	Juan Carlos Blum #	Ford	16
29	29	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	15
30	8	77	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	14
31	25	4	Daryl Harr	Chevrolet	13
32	13	32	Kyle Larson #	Chevrolet	13
33	38	52	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	11
34	19	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	10
35	28	0	Jason White	Toyota	9
36	35	74	Kevin Lepage	Chevrolet	8
37	6	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Ford	0
38	33	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	6
39	39	42	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	5
40	24	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	4

Sam Hornish Jr. would dominate on the way to winning the Sam Town’s 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to score his second career Nationwide Series victory. The win allows him to keep the Nationwide Series points lead.

 

Green flag and Brian Vickers leads ahead of Trevor Bayne

Lap 2 Vickers Bayne, Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski

Lap 3 Vickers A Dilon Bayne Keselowski, Parker Kligerman, Brian Scott, Sam Hornish Jr., Justin Allgaier, Ty Dillon….Eric McClure brings out the first caution with a huge trail of smoke

Restart lap 8 Vickers leads them off of turn two with Dillon in toe…..Dillon gets the run down the backstretch and gets alongside Vickers.

Lap 9 Dillon leads at the line with Vickers to his inside followed by Keselowski. Vickers grabs the lead back through turns three and four

Lap 10 Vickers Dillion Keselowski Bayne Scott Allgaier Kligerman Hornish Jr. Smith Sadler

Lap 11 Keselowski passes Dillon for second

Lap 12 Kligerman, Hornish Jr. and Smith pass Allgaier

Lap 14 Sadler passes Allgaier for ninth

Lap 15 Vickers leads Keselowski Dillon Bayne Scott Kligerman Hornish Jr Smith Sadler Allgaier

Lap 22 Keselowski passes Vickers for the lead

Lap 28 Keselowski leads Vickers Dillon Bayne Scott Hornish Kligerman, Kyle Busch, Smith and Sadler….Ky Busch passes Kligerman seventh

Lap 31 Daryl Harr blackflagged for not meeting the minimum speed – he has made it to pit road. Smith passes Kligerman for eighth.

Lap 35 Competition yellow due to lack of practice with the weather situation.  Pit stops. Bayne leads Smith Keselowski Vickers Dillon Hornish Ky Busch Sadler Scott and Earnhardt Jr. Top two drivers took two tires while the rest took four.

Restart lap 42 Bayne and Smith side-by-side for the lead while its two, three-wide behind them.

Lap 43 Bayne leads while Smith and Vickers are side-by-side for second

Lap 44 Bayne Smith Vickers Hornish Keselowski, A Dillon Ky Busch Sadler Scott, Ty Dillon

Lap 47 Ky Busch passes A Dillon for sixth; Earnhardt Jr. passes Ty Dillon for 10^th

Lap 50 Dillon passes Ky Busch back for sixth…….Bayne Smith Vickers Hornish Keselowski A Dillon Ky Busch Sadler Scott Earnhardt Jr.

Caution lap 56 Joe Nemechek wrecks with the No. 01. Bayne pits from the lead with some of the mid-pack cars. Smith takes over the lead.

Restart lap 61 Hornish makes it three-wide on the restart with Smith and Vickers. Smith and Hornish go side-by-side for the lead into turn three. Hornish clears Smith off turn four.

Lap 62 Hornish leads ahead of Vickers and Smith.

Lap 63 Hornish leads Smith Vickers Keselowski Ky Busch A Dillon Scott Sadler Earnhardt Jr and T Dillon

Lap 64 Vickers passes Smith for second

Lap 66 A Dillon passes Ky Busch for fifth

Lap 69 Keselowski passes Smith for third

Lap 71 Hornish leads Vickers Keselowski Smith A Dillon Ky Busch Scott Sadler Earnhardt Jr and T Dillon

Caution lap 81 Robert Richardson Jr. goes for a spin. Leaders hit pit road. Bayne leads Larson A Dillon Vickers Bowman Piquet Jr Hornish Scott. Some took two tires, some took fuel only, some took four tires.

Restart lap 87. Bayne and Larson side-by-side for the lead. Both drivers get into the wall off of turn four while racing for the lead. Bayne got loose and up into Larson. Caution comes out. Dillon and Vickers were side-by-side behind them.

Restart lap 92 Vickers restarts of the leader, clears Austin Dillon through turns three and four.

Lap 93 Hornish passes A Dillon for second

Lap 94 Hornish passes Vickers for the lead, ahead of A Dillon, Bowman, Keselowski, Ky Busch, Sadler, Smith, Piquet Jr. and Ty Dillon.

Lap 95 Keselowski passes Bowman for fourth.

Lap 97 Smith passes Sadler for seventh; Allgaier passes Piquet Jr and Ty Dillon for ninth

Lap 98 Scott passes Piquet Jr and Ty Dillon for 10^th

Lap 100 Busch and Smith pass Bowman; Scott passes Allgaier

Lap 102 Hornish leads Vickers Keselowski A Dillon Ky Busch Smith Sadler Bowman Scott and Ty Dillon

Lap 125 Keselowski running into major issues, made a couple of pit stops. Hornish leads Vickers.

Lap 136 Keselowski is back down pit road with splitter and shock issues, to go with their temperature issues.

Lap 137 Kyle Busch passes Vickers for second. Parker Kligerman goes behind the wall. Caution for debris. Kyle Busch leads Vickers Hornish A Dillon Smith Sadler T Dillon Scott and Bayne off pit road. “It popped out of gear. It’s okay. I just have a cut left rear tire…..Sorry guys. That was stupid on my part.” – Kligerman

Restart lap 145 as Vickers and Kyle Busch are side-by-side for the lead. Earnhardt Jr. came on pit road as everyone to green with a flat left rear tire.

Lap 147 Ky Busch Vickers A Dillon Hornish Sadler Smith Scott Bowman Bayne T Dillon

50 laps to go Vickers and Ky Busch side-by-side for the lead. Hornish passes Dillon for third

49 laps to go Ky Busch holds Vickers off, Hornish grabs second from Vickers

48 laps to go Hornish and Ky Busch side-by-side for the lead.

47 laps to go Hornish grabs the lead ahead of Ky Busch Vickers Sadler Dillon

46 laps to go Keselowski to the garage.

36 to go Hornish leads Ky Busch and Vickers

34 laps to go Hornish leads Ky Busch Vickers Sadler A Dillon Scott Smith Bayne T Dillon Bowman

28 laps to go Bayne passes Smith for seventh

19 to go Smith passes Bayne back for seventh

Caution 18 to go Scott Lagasse Jr. goes for a spin after getting loose. Brad Sweet gets the lucky dog as he just went a lap down to leader Sam Hornish Jr. Top seven stay out as the back half pits. There are 13 cars on the lead lap with Sweet getting the lucky dog.

Restart 13 laps to go Hornish and Busch are side-by-side for the lead as Kyle Larson wrecks on the backstretch to bring out the caution. Joey Gase was slow, got hit by Ryan Seig…Gase then hit Larson, sending Larson into the outside wall. Earnhardt Jr. gets the lucky dog. On restart will be Hornish KyBusch Sadler Bayne Vickers Bowman ADillon Scott TDillon Smith Pastrana Piquet Sweet DaleJr

Restart 8 laps to go Kyle Busch and Hornish side-by-side for the lead.

6 laps to go Hornish to the lead ahead of Ky Busch through turns one and two

5 laps to go Hornish leads Ky Busch while Bayne and Sadler are side-by-side for third

4 laps to go Vickers makes it three-wide with Bayne and Sadler off of turn four

3 to go Vickers passes Bayne for third. Piquet Jr. scrapes the wall

2 to go Hornish leads Ky Busch Vickers

Sam Hornish Jr. wins at Las Vegas. Kyle Busch. Vickers. Bayne Sadler A Dillon Smith Bowman Scott Pastrana T Dillon Sweet Piquet Earnhardt Jr

Unofficial Race Results
Sam’s Town 300, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=3
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	7	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	48
2	23	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Toyota	0
3	1	20	Brian Vickers	Toyota	42
4	2	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	41
5	15	11	Elliott Sadler	Toyota	39
6	4	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	39
7	12	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	38
8	18	99	Alex Bowman #	Toyota	36
9	3	2	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	35
10	31	60	Travis Pastrana	Ford	34
11	5	33	Ty Dillon(i)	Chevrolet	0
12	17	5	Brad Sweet	Chevrolet	32
13	11	30	Nelson Piquet Jr. #	Chevrolet	31
14	32	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.(i)	Chevrolet	0
15	10	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	29
16	9	43	Reed Sorenson	Ford	28
17	20	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	27
18	21	51	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	0
19	27	70	Johanna Long	Chevrolet	25
20	40	8	Scott Lagasse Jr.	Chevrolet	24
21	22	24	Blake Koch	Toyota	23
22	36	55	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	22
23	37	92	Dexter Stacey #	Ford	21
24	14	44	Hal Martin #	Toyota	20
25	26	40	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	19
26	34	79	Jeffrey Earnhardt #	Ford	19
27	16	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	17
28	30	15	Juan Carlos Blum #	Ford	16
29	29	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	15
30	8	77	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	14
31	25	4	Daryl Harr	Chevrolet	13
32	13	32	Kyle Larson #	Chevrolet	13
33	38	52	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	11
34	19	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	10
35	28	0	Jason White	Toyota	9
36	35	74	Kevin Lepage	Chevrolet	8
37	6	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Ford	0
38	33	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	6
39	39	42	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	5
40	24	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	4

Kyle Busch dominated the Dollar General 200 to win his first NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race of the 2013 season and his first NNS since 2011 at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) on Saturday.

Busch had to do it the hard way. After Dexter Stacey spun to bring out the second yellow flag of the afternoon, Busch was too fast entering pit road.  After restarting 25th, Busch made it to 15th within three laps and would later take the lead from Brad Keselowski en route to a dominating victory for Busch and the No.54 Monster Energy Toyota team.

Busch led 142 of the 200 laps and could capture his second Sprint Cup Series victory tomorrow at PIR.

“We put on a show. I had to be patient a few times and aggressive a few times (to get through the field). The car was phenomenal all day.” Busch said.

Brad Keselowski finished second, Justin Allgaier third, Trevor Bayne fourth and Elliott Sadler finished fifth.

“I knew I had a shot if something happened to Kyle, but you’ve got to put yourself in a position for good things to happen to you. Kyle’s car was so fast that I could have probably had four tires and he could have had none and it wouldn’t have mattered, he would have still drove through the field.” Keselowski said.

On lap 1, an accident involved Johanna Long, Jamie Dick, JC Blum, Travis Pastrana, Alex Bowman, and Sam Hornish Jr.  Long went up the track and tapped Hornish going into turn-3.  Hornish moved up the track and then lost traction and hit the outside wall.  Long was clearly disappointed and said that the car, “Just got away from her.” Hornish stayed in the race and despite battling water and oil pressure issues, he took his No.12 car home damaged, but in the 7th position.

“We came back in after I spun and put four tires on it and the car was pretty good, so to be able to come back the way we did just says a lot about this team and the hard work they’re putting into it. First off, I feel really blessed you can go through an accident like we got into on lap two and not put a big hole in the radiator and have our day be done.” Hornish said.

The bead on Kevin Harvick’s tire melted on lap 101 and Harvick pounded the wall coming out off turn-2.

While battling for second place with Brad Keselowski, Brian Vickers collided with the slow car of Mike Harmon. Vickers  finished a lap down in 17th place.

Five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson finished 12th in his first Nationwide Series race since 2011.

Unofficial Race Results
Dollar General 200, Phoenix Int’l Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=2
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	1	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Toyota	0
2	9	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Ford	0
3	5	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	41
4	4	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	40
5	15	11	Elliott Sadler	Toyota	39
6	6	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	38
7	19	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	37
8	3	18	Matt Kenseth(i)	Toyota	0
9	8	43	Aric Almirola(i)	Ford	0
10	21	2	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	34
11	13	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	33
12	7	5	Jimmie Johnson(i)	Chevrolet	0
13	14	32	Kyle Larson #	Chevrolet	31
14	22	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	30
15	23	30	Nelson Piquet Jr. #	Chevrolet	29
16	30	24	Blake Koch	Toyota	28
17	2	20	Brian Vickers	Toyota	28
18	36	40	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	26
19	11	77	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	25
20	27	79	Jeffrey Earnhardt #	Ford	24
21	35	51	Ryan Sieg(i)	Chevrolet	0
22	32	0	Jason White	Toyota	22
23	24	44	Hal Martin #	Toyota	21
24	28	92	Dexter Stacey #	Ford	20
25	33	23	Harrison Rhodes(i)	Ford	0
26	38	15	Juan Carlos Blum #	Ford	18
27	40	74	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	17
28	12	60	Travis Pastrana	Ford	16
29	20	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	15
30	37	52	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	14
31	18	99	Alex Bowman #	Toyota	13
32	25	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	12
33	10	33	Kevin Harvick(i)	Chevrolet	0
34	39	4	Daryl Harr	Chevrolet	10
35	17	55	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	9
36	29	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	8
37	26	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	7
38	31	42	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	6
39	34	46	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	5
40	16	70	Johanna Long	Chevrolet	4