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Bench Warmer
Kyle Busch made it a Texas trio in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Busch won his third consecutive Nationwide race in Texas with another dominating performance Saturday, leading a race-record 178 of 200 laps to win the O'Reilly 300 even though he insisted it wasn't as easy as it looked.
"I was uncomfortable because of the handling of the car, just inconsistent at times," Busch said. "My feet got hot. My body was fine, my back was OK, my head was fine."
Still not enough problems to keep him from returning to Victory Lane.
Busch finished 1.447 seconds ahead of Tony Stewart, who made a late charge from seventh with four new tires after a caution on Lap 188. Brad Keselowski, forced to start 42nd in a backup car, finished third.
The winning streak at Texas began with Busch sweeping both races last year when he led 300 of 400 laps. This time, he became the first polesitter to win any of the 17 Nationwide races at the 1½-mile, high-banked track.
Busch led the first 56 laps in his Joe Gibbs-owned Toyota, building a 6-second lead over Jeff Burton before the first pit stop. Before a caution a dozen laps later, Busch had already regained a 7-second lead.
The only time Busch was passed on the track was when he got loose and Burton went by him on the 90th lap. By Lap 106, Busch was back in front to stay.
Keselowski, who wrecked the primary No. 88 Chevrolet owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in qualifying, worked his way through the field and by Lap 170 was second. And he was closing the gap when rookie John Wes Townley's accident brought the final caution.
"The 88 was coming there at the end. He was catching me there," Busch said. "If we did not get a caution like we did, it probably would have been a whale of a show."
Busch didn't go into the pit during the caution, shooting back on to the track after initially acting like he would. Keselowski stayed right behind him.
But Stewart did pit because he still had a new set of tires, and that was almost enough.
When the race restarted with seven laps left, Busch charged ahead while Keselowski and Joey Logano wound up side-by-side batting for second. But it was Stewart taking over second three laps later, though he didn't have enough laps left to catch Busch without another caution.
"I got a good restart," Keselowski said. "I was doing all I could to keep up with him."
Logano fell back after making contact with series points leader Carl Edwards and finished 12th. Edwards was running fourth at the final caution, and maintained his points lead despite dropping to an 18th-place finish.
David Ragan ended fourth, followed by Paul Menard, Matt Kenseth, Mike Bliss and Burton. David Reutimann, on the pole for the Sprint Cup race Sunday, was ninth.
Busch won his third consecutive Nationwide race in Texas with another dominating performance Saturday, leading a race-record 178 of 200 laps to win the O'Reilly 300 even though he insisted it wasn't as easy as it looked.
"I was uncomfortable because of the handling of the car, just inconsistent at times," Busch said. "My feet got hot. My body was fine, my back was OK, my head was fine."
Still not enough problems to keep him from returning to Victory Lane.
Busch finished 1.447 seconds ahead of Tony Stewart, who made a late charge from seventh with four new tires after a caution on Lap 188. Brad Keselowski, forced to start 42nd in a backup car, finished third.
The winning streak at Texas began with Busch sweeping both races last year when he led 300 of 400 laps. This time, he became the first polesitter to win any of the 17 Nationwide races at the 1½-mile, high-banked track.
Busch led the first 56 laps in his Joe Gibbs-owned Toyota, building a 6-second lead over Jeff Burton before the first pit stop. Before a caution a dozen laps later, Busch had already regained a 7-second lead.
The only time Busch was passed on the track was when he got loose and Burton went by him on the 90th lap. By Lap 106, Busch was back in front to stay.
Keselowski, who wrecked the primary No. 88 Chevrolet owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in qualifying, worked his way through the field and by Lap 170 was second. And he was closing the gap when rookie John Wes Townley's accident brought the final caution.
"The 88 was coming there at the end. He was catching me there," Busch said. "If we did not get a caution like we did, it probably would have been a whale of a show."
Busch didn't go into the pit during the caution, shooting back on to the track after initially acting like he would. Keselowski stayed right behind him.
But Stewart did pit because he still had a new set of tires, and that was almost enough.
When the race restarted with seven laps left, Busch charged ahead while Keselowski and Joey Logano wound up side-by-side batting for second. But it was Stewart taking over second three laps later, though he didn't have enough laps left to catch Busch without another caution.
"I got a good restart," Keselowski said. "I was doing all I could to keep up with him."
Logano fell back after making contact with series points leader Carl Edwards and finished 12th. Edwards was running fourth at the final caution, and maintained his points lead despite dropping to an 18th-place finish.
David Ragan ended fourth, followed by Paul Menard, Matt Kenseth, Mike Bliss and Burton. David Reutimann, on the pole for the Sprint Cup race Sunday, was ninth.
