Kyle Busch won his 12th NASCAR Nationwide race because of good restarts and fast pitwork, while Kevin Harvick, who had the fastest car through most of the day, couldn’t keep up with Kyle on the restarts or in the pits, which cost him the race.
Busch credited his crew after the race. “These guys did an awesome job for me today,:” he told ESPN. “Pit road probably won this race so I can’t thank these guys enough.
“For us to be able to come out here and get number twelve it’s awesome. These guys really enjoy doing this and so do I.”
Kyle Busch started on the pole at the NASCAR Nationwide CampingWorld.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway at Fontana California, but Kevin Harvick, who started second, had the better car over longer runs, leaving Busch behind.
Kyle Busch got a pit-lane speeding penalty on lap 90, which dropped him to fifteenth. It only took him 23 laps to get back to the front of the pack.
Harvick led the most laps, but that didn’t matter as a trio of yellow flags in the last forty-four laps gave Kyle Busch a chance to restart from the front, and each time Busch was able to run away from the pack, while Harvick’s car, which took several laps to come good, never got rolling.
In the end, Harvick managed to finish, third, squeezing past Joey Logano and Carl Edwards in the final two laps, but if his crew had been as sharp as the Busch team, Harvick would have won.
Harvick was securely in the lead on lap 126 when Michael Annett and Brendan Gaughan collided between Turns One and Two. Harvick lost five places on the subsequent pit stop, giving Kyle Busch the lead, which he never relinquished.
Harvick might have had a fighting chance, had he come out of the pits ahead, but his crew, while not making any mistakes, also didn’t move quickly enough. They lost him five spots after a caution on lap 79 as well.
Brad Keselowski finished second, increasing his points lead. It seems impossible that he will not win the Nationwide championship this year.
Busch credited his crew after the race. “These guys did an awesome job for me today,:” he told ESPN. “Pit road probably won this race so I can’t thank these guys enough.
“For us to be able to come out here and get number twelve it’s awesome. These guys really enjoy doing this and so do I.”
Kyle Busch started on the pole at the NASCAR Nationwide CampingWorld.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway at Fontana California, but Kevin Harvick, who started second, had the better car over longer runs, leaving Busch behind.
Kyle Busch got a pit-lane speeding penalty on lap 90, which dropped him to fifteenth. It only took him 23 laps to get back to the front of the pack.
Harvick led the most laps, but that didn’t matter as a trio of yellow flags in the last forty-four laps gave Kyle Busch a chance to restart from the front, and each time Busch was able to run away from the pack, while Harvick’s car, which took several laps to come good, never got rolling.
In the end, Harvick managed to finish, third, squeezing past Joey Logano and Carl Edwards in the final two laps, but if his crew had been as sharp as the Busch team, Harvick would have won.
Harvick was securely in the lead on lap 126 when Michael Annett and Brendan Gaughan collided between Turns One and Two. Harvick lost five places on the subsequent pit stop, giving Kyle Busch the lead, which he never relinquished.
Harvick might have had a fighting chance, had he come out of the pits ahead, but his crew, while not making any mistakes, also didn’t move quickly enough. They lost him five spots after a caution on lap 79 as well.
Brad Keselowski finished second, increasing his points lead. It seems impossible that he will not win the Nationwide championship this year.
Danica Patrick Almost Has a Good Race Result
Danica Patrick qualified 14th at Fontana, had her best qualifying by far. In February she qualified 36th at the track.
The GoDaddy girl (who now has Tissot as a sub-sponsor) drove a good race, getting as high as 13th. Nine laps from the end Patrick was in 17th when she tangled with James Buescher. Beuscher got the better of it, spinning Patrick hard into the wall and putting her out of the race.
“We had a decent car to start and we were able to hold our ground,” she told ESPN. “The frustrating part is I felt I had a really good car on those last two restarts.”
Patrick did not go so far as to blame Beuscher for the accident, but she made her opinion clear: “I kind of got into the car that ended up turning me [James Buescher] the lap before I didn’t mean to. That next time I was giving him room and looking at the replay, it looks like maybe it was avoidable.”
Patrick still felt that the race was a positive step.
“I was really happy that the car was good on the long run. I had been really confused about what it was going to take to be good from the beginning to the end and I think that we’re getting closer.
A lot of things went really well today so I’m very pleased for that. The result obviously wasn’t very good but we had a good race. We are going to have a lot of confidence going into Charlotte.”
The Nationwide series races next at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Dollar General 300 on October 15th. The race will be televised on ESPN2 starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
The GoDaddy girl (who now has Tissot as a sub-sponsor) drove a good race, getting as high as 13th. Nine laps from the end Patrick was in 17th when she tangled with James Buescher. Beuscher got the better of it, spinning Patrick hard into the wall and putting her out of the race.
“We had a decent car to start and we were able to hold our ground,” she told ESPN. “The frustrating part is I felt I had a really good car on those last two restarts.”
Patrick did not go so far as to blame Beuscher for the accident, but she made her opinion clear: “I kind of got into the car that ended up turning me [James Buescher] the lap before I didn’t mean to. That next time I was giving him room and looking at the replay, it looks like maybe it was avoidable.”
Patrick still felt that the race was a positive step.
“I was really happy that the car was good on the long run. I had been really confused about what it was going to take to be good from the beginning to the end and I think that we’re getting closer.
A lot of things went really well today so I’m very pleased for that. The result obviously wasn’t very good but we had a good race. We are going to have a lot of confidence going into Charlotte.”
The Nationwide series races next at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Dollar General 300 on October 15th. The race will be televised on ESPN2 starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
