NascarFanatic

Brad Keselowski raced to his first Nationwide Series victory Saturday night, passing Clint Bowyer with six laps to go and easily holding off his closest rivals in the Federated Auto Parts 300.

Kyle Busch, racing in the second of three NASCAR races in a historic weekend triple, finished 20th, three laps down. A green-flag pit stop with 52 laps to go bounced him from the top five to two laps down.

Keselowski, driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr., became the seventh first-time winner in 15 Nationwide races at Nashville Superspeedway. David Stremme finished second, David Reutimann and Bowyer finished 3rd and 4th.

By starting Sunday at Pocono, Kyle Busch will become the first driver to compete in all of NASCAR’s top three series at different tracks on the same weekend. Busch will start in a backup car at the tail of the field, the result of a crash earlier Saturday that destroyed his primary car during practice.

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Kyle Busch made a mockery of the competition in Sunday’s Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Busch gained a total of 5 seconds over runner-up Carl Edwards on his final two pit stops, built a lead that topped 8 seconds and cruised in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a 4.225-second win, his fourth of the season and the eighth of his career.

Pole-sitter Greg Biffle ran third, followed by Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr., as only six cars finished on the lead lap.

Busch grabbed the lead from Edwards during a cycle of green-flag pit stops that ended on Lap 237. NASCAR called a caution on Lap 243 for debris in Turn 2 — under which the leaders remained on the track — and after a restart on Lap 248, Edwards dogged Busch until both drivers brought their cars to the pits under green on Lap 319.

"We didn’t have the car to beat [Sunday]," said Busch, who expanded his lead in the championship standings over eighth-place finisher Jeff Burton to 142 points. "Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle did. But our guys on pit road [were] phenomenal — got us out front — and that’s what won the race for us. The guys that pitted this thing on pit road definitely won the race for us."

Edwards acknowledged he was slow getting off pit road on his final stop, but he gained two positions to fourth in the Cup standings with the second-place finish.

"It’s not what we came here for, but the car was good [Sunday]," Edwards said. "I wish we could have put on a better show for the fans. I wish we could have had a caution there at the end — but Kyle deserved it.

Biffle led 164 laps to Busch’s 158, but he developed an ignition problem on Lap 169 and surrendered the lead to Edwards before switching to his second battery. Biffle ran the rest of the race without the use of air conditioning or brake fans in his car.

"The engine started missing, but we changed batteries, and it came back on line," said Biffle, who vaulted six positions to fifth in the Cup standings. "We were just a little too tight all day. That’s really what the problem was."

Seventeen laps into the race, contact in Turn 2 between David Gilliland and Elliott Sadler triggered an 11-car wreck that ruined the afternoon for Chase contenders Dale Earnhardt Jr. (35th), Clint Bowyer (36th), Kevin Harvick (38th), Tony Stewart (41st) and Denny Hamlin (43rd).

Earnhardt, who held third in the points standings (now 271 behind Busch), was the only one of those five drivers who didn’t lose at least three positions in the standings, though none of the drivers dropped out of the top 12.

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Best Buy Dover 400 – June 1, 2008

Pocono 500 – June 8, 2008

Lifelock 400 at Michigan International Speedway – June 15, 2008

Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway – June 22, 2008

LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – June 29, 2008

Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola Daytona International Speedway – July 5, 2008

LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway – July 12, 2008

Allstate 400 at The Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – July 27, 2008

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Tony Stewart suffered his second heartbreaking defeat of the season Sunday night when a flat tire late in the Coca-Cola 600 handed Kasey Kahne the victory in NASCAR’s longest race of the year.

Stewart, who lost the season-opening Daytona 500 when he was passed on the last lap by Ryan Newman, had the tire go flat with three laps to go. He was forced to pit, allowing Kahne to zip past him for the victory.

Coca-Cola 600

Unofficial Results

Pos. Driver  Make

1. Kasey Kahne  Dodge

2. Greg Biffle  Ford

3. Kyle Busch  Toyota

4. Jeff Gordon   Chevrolet

5.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet

6.  Jeff Burton   Chevrolet

7.  Matt Kenseth  Ford

8.  Elliott Sadler  Dodge

9.  Carl Edwards  Ford

10.  David Reutimann  Toyota

Stewart has yet to win the 600 in 10 career tries, an agonizing stretch for a former open-wheel driver who grew up dreaming of an Indianapolis 500 victory. With his focus now on NASCAR, he’ll settle for any sort of Memorial Day weekend win.

Instead, he wound up a frustrating 18th and stormed into his hauler without comment. He could be seen inside the truck kicking at the cabinets as crew chief Greg Zipadelli was left to answer questions about yet another near-miss.

"It’s just stupid. I don’t know," Zipadelli said. "We must have run over something, small leak or something. But I’ll just say we lost a tire with a 5 1/2-second lead. I don’t even know what to say, I’m so frustrated. I feel bad for everybody.

"All day we did a good job. We knew we needed to keep our car where it was and it would be good at the end and we did exactly that, and we just fell short."

It was the second consecutive defeat in the 600 for Stewart, who led 55 laps here last May only to fall short on fuel and forfeited the lead for a late gas-and-go.

Meanwhile, it was the second consecutive week Kahne made his way to Victory Lane.

He became the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2003 to win both the All-Star Race and the 600 in this eight days of racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. A week ago, he was voted by the fans to compete in the All-Star Race when he failed to earn a spot in the event through on-track performance.

He gambled with a no-tire stop to win the $1 million race, then vowed to carry momentum from the win into the 600.

He succeeded, snapping a 52-race winless streak in points events dating to October 2006.

"That momentum helped a lot," Kahne said. "It gave us a lot to be excited about coming into this weekend. We stepped it up again [Sunday], just put on a great show."

Stewart’s failure was par for the course in this race of attrition. Most of the heavyweights dropped out of contention during an event that started in the late afternoon, ended in the evening and requires both intense mental focus and luck to make it to the finish.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Johnson, Brian Vickers and Kurt Busch all led laps but had parts failures or tire issues that prevented them from winning.

"Dale Jr. fell out, he was awesome. Tony Stewart fell out, he was awesome," Kahne said. "They had us beat at times [Sunday], and we had them beat at times."

Greg Biffle finished second to Kahne for the second consecutive week and Kyle Busch, the Sprint Cup Series points leader and winner of Saturday night’s Nationwide Series race, finished third despite two battery changes over the course of the race.

Jeff Gordon was fourth and was followed by Earnhardt, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, Carl Edwards and David Reutimann.

Kahne led 65 laps, but forfeited the lead to Stewart with 16 laps to go when Kahne had to stop for gas. Stewart stopped for gas later, but had a shorter fill-up that cycled him back into the lead.

Stewart was then cruising toward his first win of the season when he smacked the wall, causing his tire to go flat and forcing him to head to the pits and hand he win to Kahne.

Earnhardt mounted a strong bid to snap his 73-race winless streak, leading 76 laps in the latter portion of the evening. But he appeared to lose his right-rear tire while running out front, and his Chevrolet slid into the wall and bounced along it until finally coming to a stop. He had additional damage when J.J. Yeley ran into the back of him, and he sped to pit road for repairs.

NASCAR initially penalized him one lap for speeding past the safety workers, but rescinded it after further review. Stewart, who inherited the lead when Earnhardt wrecked and held it after the ensuing pit stops, was baffled by the non-call.

"Now how does that work?" he called.

No one was quite sure, but Earnhardt rallied to finish fifth.

"I thought we were done, and then I got motivated again," he said. "We got lucky. Got gas and made it last."

Johnson, a three-time winner of this race, lost a cylinder in his motor while running second late and failed to finish all 600 miles. He finished 39th.

Kurt Busch led 64 laps early, but hit the wall when he had an issue with his right-front tire while running second. He wound up 16th.

Vickers led 61 laps and was running in third right before the halfway point when his left-rear wheel broke on his Toyota and the tire bounced across the track as Vickers slammed into the wall. The tire continued its high bounces, over a fence and into the infield, where it ricocheted off the awning of a camper before finally coming to rest amid cheering fans.

Security was sent to recover the tire, but Vickers didn’t need to look at it to figure out what happened.

"The last two runs the car was picking up a left-rear vibration," said Vickers, who finished 42nd. "The left-rear wheel was loose, but it was staying intact. We’re not really sure exactly what was causing it, but the last time, we picked up the vibration and the wheel just came off the car."

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CONCORD, N.C. — As the second- and third-place finishing teams confronted each other in the pits, Kyle Busch was taking bows for his fourth NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of the year.

Busch won the Carquest Auto Parts 300 Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway under caution when Mike Wallace’s wreck slowed the race after Busch had taken the white flag for a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the event two laps beyond its posted distance of 200.

Carquest Auto Parts 300

Unofficial Results

Pos.  Driver       Make

1.   Kyle Busch      Toyota

2.   Denny Hamlin Toyota

3.   Brad Keselowski  Chevrolet

4.   Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet

5.   Brian Vickers   Toyota

6.   Clint Bowyer   Chevrolet

7.   Greg Biffle    Ford

8.   Jeff Burton  Chevrolet

9.  David Ragan  Ford

10. Jimmie Johnson   Chevrolet

Driving the No. 32 Braun Racing Toyota, Busch ended the four-race winning streak of the No. 20 Toyota that belonged to his full-time owner, Joe Gibbs. Denny Hamlin, who took a turn in the No. 20 on Saturday, finished second, followed by Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and pole-sitter Brian Vickers.

"Before the race, I said, hopefully we could have the Dollar General Toyota [Braun's car] come home in first place with him [Hamlin] the runner-up," Busch said.

He got his wish, but the real fireworks occurred between Hamlin and Keselowski under the final caution. Keselowski tapped Hamlin’s Camry as the cars circled the track behind the pace car. Hamlin retaliated by turning right into Keselowski’s No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

"What the hell did he do that for?" asked Earnhardt, Keselowski’s car owner, after the race. "Brad bumped him just a little bit under caution, and Denny knocked the fender off his car. Now the car’s all tore up."

As Busch celebrated his 15th win in the series, crews from the two teams engaged in an angry confrontation on pit road, as NASCAR officials tried to keep the teams apart.

Hamlin complained that Keselowski had repeatedly failed to give him racing room earlier in the event.

"Give a guy two inches to let him clear, and don’t just hang onto my rear quarter panel," said Hamlin, who made it clear that his retaliation was for the bump under caution, not for the way Keselowski had raced him. "You throw a rock, I’m going to throw a concrete block back."

Keselowski, a full-time Nationwide driver, had a different perspective.

"I race one day a week, not two," he said. "I have 200 laps to prove myself, not 400. I have to make the most of every lap."

Committed to a fuel mileage strategy, Busch stayed out on old tires and inherited the lead, when the rest of the contending cars — with the exception of Greg Biffle’s No. 16 Ford — came to pits on Lap 163, after a wreck in Turn 3 involving Kelly Bires and Kasey Kahne caused the eighth caution of the race.

Two more quick cautions — one when Steve Wallace and Jason Leffler wrecked in close quarters in Turn 4 and one for debris on Lap 181 — enabled Busch to save enough fuel to make it to the finish. But Busch still had to hold off the cars behind him.

With five laps left, Hamlin made a determined move to the inside of Busch’s No. 32 Toyota, but Busch surged past his teammate from Joe Gibbs Racing and held him off until Josh Wise scraped the wall the bring out the 11th caution and set up the two-lap finishing dash.

Notes: Busch led 86 laps, the sixth time he’s led the most laps in a Nationwide event this year … Keselowski’s third-place finish was a career-best … Joe Gibbs Racing had won the previous six Nationwide Series events, two by Busch in the No. 18 car, followed by four in a row (Tony Stewart twice and Hamlin and Busch once each) in the No. 20 … Clint Bowyer finished sixth and saw his series points lead narrowed to 67 over second-place Busch.

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CONCORD, N.C. — Dale Jarrett finally got to drive the big brown truck on a racetrack.

Now he can truly call it a career.

Although there were times during Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway when it appeared the big brown truck might have been able to go faster than the racecar Jarrett tried to drive later, it was, in many of the best ways, a perfect night under a full moon for the veteran driver.

He received a hearty standing ovation from his peers in the pre-race drivers’ meeting. He received the honor of being the final driver introduced to the fans for what he insisted was his final race, and again the cheers flowed forth — as did, apparently, a few tears. Jarrett appeared to wipe his eyes as he climbed into his No. 44 Toyota for the last time.

Others have retired and then come back, and then done so again and again. Mark Martin comes most immediately to mind. Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte, who recently signed on to drive some races later this season for Petty Enterprises, have found themselves to be hot commodities because of the past champion’s provisional starts that they carried away with them in pockets of driver’s suits that supposedly were being hung up for good.

Jarrett said he already has been approached by teams inquiring about his future availability for spot duty, per his own cache of provisional starts. He said he knows that he could procure "crazy money" for such part-time stints, but is not so inclined to pursue them.

He keeps insisting that for him, retirement actually means retirement.

"I hate to use the word never, but I have no plans whatsoever of getting back in a car," Jarrett said. "I can’t even come up with a scenario where I would."

Jarrett announced prior to this season that he would drive the first five points races, through the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 16, and then in Saturday’s All-Star Race before calling it quits.

Just since stepping away over the last several races, Jarrett has discovered there is more to life — his life — than racing. He continues to do announcing work for ESPN that requires him to stay in close touch with the sport, for now particularly with what’s happening in the Nationwide Series. Yet he admitted that the previous two weekends he hadn’t seen but the last portion of Cup races at Richmond and Darlington.

"It’s been nice to get away and have that time and see another side of life," Jarrett said. "On the weekends that I’ve been home, if I’ve wanted to sleep in a little late and get up with the kids and go for a late breakfast, I was able to do that. I’ve heard about people doing that, but I hadn’t been able to do it."

He said he can go to early church service on Sunday mornings now and be at the golf course by 10 a.m. Then he can play 18 holes and still get home in time to help get his son, Zach, to baseball practice.

"I’ve just seen another side of life that I knew was there, but haven’t been able to experience. And now I am and I’m really enjoying it," Jarrett said.

Jarrett was nostalgic when discussing his looming final ride a day earlier in the Lowe’s Motor Speedway media center.

"It’s just difficult knowing that when I climb out of that racecar Saturday night that it’s the last time that I will ever compete at this level," Jarrett said. "You can do a lot of fun things. I can go to the golf course and have great matches, but nothing will ever match the excitement that you get from driving a racecar and being able to compete at this level."

Dale’s career in many ways was the polar opposite of his father Ned’s.

Ned Jarrett retired young in 1966, only one year after winning his second points championship in NASCAR’s top series. Ned was only 34 years old at the time — the same age Dale was when he finally won his first Cup race, beating Davey Allison at the wire for a win at Michigan while driving for the Wood Brothers in 1991.

There were those who thought Dale might never win at all, even though he had experienced success in what was then the Busch Series. And even after Michigan, there were those who thought perhaps he would never win again — especially when it was more than a year until he won again, this time giving the fledging Joe Gibbs Racing operation its very first Cup victory in 1993.

But that was hardly the case.

Dale Jarrett was like a fine bottle of wine, getting better with age. He didn’t hit full stride until 1996, when he won four times while driving for Robert Yates Racing. The next year, he won seven times — followed by four more victories and his only points championship a year later in 1999.

By the time he climbed out of the car Saturday night, it didn’t matter that he had quickly fallen off the pace and slogged his way to a 21st-place finish. This was his version of a career Victory Lap after amassing 32 Cup wins in 668 career starts.

He accomplished more than even he ever believed possible — and there was no bigger believer in Dale Jarrett in the late 1980s and early 1990s than Dale Jarrett himself. That’s because few others believed in him at all.

That slowly changed over the years.

"I didn’t have anything to base that on at that time, but I knew that the determination and drive that I had within me to succeed would help to carry me on. As long as I could get others to believe in me as much, then I knew I would have some success," Jarrett said.

"I’ve exceeded the amount that I thought I could accomplish when I started in this business, but that’s because I was fortunate to surround myself with some really good people at a really good time in my life. Everything came together, even though it was in the latter stages of my career."

It was, he added a moment later, "perfect timing."

So was his decision to step down with class when and where he did. Well done.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

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All-Star Race Unofficial Results

Pos. Driver  Make

1. Kasey Kahne    Dodge

2. Greg Biffle    Ford

3. Matt Kenseth    Ford

4. Jimmie Johnson   Chevrolet

5. Tony Stewart   Toyota

6. Ryan Newman   Dodge

7. Sam Hornish Jr.   Dodge

8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.   Chevrolet

9. Mark Martin   Chevrolet

10. Carl Edwards   Ford

CONCORD, N.C. — Sometimes it pays to be popular.

On Saturday night, it paid Kasey Kahne $1 million.

Voted into the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway after he failed to make the field in the Sprint Showdown qualifying race, Kasey Kahne made the most of his opportunity by winning the All-Star event and the $1 million prize that goes with the victory.

Taking fuel only during his final pit stop between the third and fourth segments of the four-segment, 100-lap event, Kahne won the All-Star race for the first time. Matt Kenseth ran third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart, the only Joe Gibbs Racing driver whose car survived the night.

The first driver ever to win the race after a fan vote entry, Kahne also gave Dodge its first victory in the event. After finishing fifth in the Sprint Showdown, from which only the top-two finishers transferred to the main event, he learned that the fans had voted him into the All-Star Race via balloting on the internet, by cell phone and in Sprint stores.

"I would have loved to have raced my way in, but we have great fans, and it’s cool they voted for us and got us in the race," Kahne said. "We need all the fan support we can have. They’ve stuck behind us.

"I was going to head home, drink a couple of Budweisers and watch the All-Star race."

As it turned out, Kahne got to do a lot more than that, and he gave crew chief Kenny Francis his due for making the right call at the end.

"The car was mediocre in that open [Showdown]," Kahne said. "But we just kept fighting. I just can’t believe we won a million dollars. Kenny made the right call — no tires at the end. I didn’t think we needed them, either."

After a fuel-only pit stop between the third and final segments, Johnson led the field to a restart on Lap 76 but soon surrendered the top spot to Denny Hamlin. But Kahne took the lead for good off Turn 4 on Lap 84 when Hamlin’s engine expired.

From that point on, Kahne held off a determined charge from Biffle, who faded in the closing laps after challenging for the lead.

Soon after Kahne took the lead, Biffle powered his No. 16 Ford beside Kahne’s No. 9 Dodge but couldn’t wrest the top position from the race winner.

"I could have forced the issue," Biffle said. "I had one opportunity, and he kind of closed the door on me a little bit, and I figured, ‘No sense pressing it right now — I’ve got plenty of laps to go.’

"Then it just got tighter and tighter as it went, and I never got a chance to get back at him again.

"I had good tires. I had taken two, and he hadn’t taken any. I can’t believe I got beat [by a car] with no [new] tires."

Pole-sitter Kyle Busch finally found a foe that could slow him down — a mechanical problem. After leading all 25 laps of the first segment, Busch was cruising with a 1.5-second lead over Carl Edwards in the second segment when his No. 18 Toyota dropped a cylinder on Lap 36.

Edwards overtook Busch on Lap 39 and remained at the point for the remainder of the second segment. Three laps later, Dale Earnhardt Jr. screamed past the hobbled Camry entering Turn 2. When the segment ended eight laps later, Busch had fallen to sixth.

After a lengthy diagnosis during the 10-minute break between segments two and three, crew chief Steve Addington finally pronounced, "We’re done."

"We just didn’t make it [Saturday]," Busch said, before his crew pushed the car to the garage. "We’ll have to go back to the shop and work on some things."

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NASCAR Sprint All Star Race – May 17, 2008

Coca-Cola 600 – May 25, 2008

Best Buy Dover 400 – June 1, 2008

Pocono 500 – June 8, 2008

Lifelock 400 at Michigan International Speedway – June 15, 2008

Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway – June 22, 2008

LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – June 29, 2008

Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola Daytona International Speedway – July 5, 2008

LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway – July 12, 2008

Allstate 400 at The Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – July 27, 2008

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DARLINGTON, S.C. — Kyle Busch is NASCAR’s most hated driver. And he loves it. Viciously booed during prerace introductions, Busch soaked up the venom by encouraging the crowd at the Darlington Raceway on Saturday to keep it coming. When he heard a member of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew jeer him as he passed by on the parade lap, Busch smugly flipped him the bird.

This kid doesn’t need to be popular, not as long as he’s winning races. "I don’t care," Busch said. "I’m here to race. I’m here to win. If I win, it just makes them more upset and crying on their way home."

Busch won his third Sprint Cup Series race of the season on Saturday, one week after he alienated the "Junior Nation" by wrecking Earnhardt as the two jockeyed for the lead three laps from the finish at Richmond.

It led to severe fan backlash against Busch that included a thunderous razzing when he appeared on stage with his mother in a prerace Mother’s Day tribute.

Busch is thriving as NASCAR’s villain. Overshadowed for three seasons at Hendrick Motorsports by his successful and levelheaded teammates, he’s having a breakthrough year with Joe Gibbs Racing. His new team loves everything about him, from his edgy personality to a newfound swagger and the aggressive driving style that’s helped him to eight victories this season.

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RICHMOND, Va. — In a heartbreaking race for Virginia native Denny Hamlin and victory-starved Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer stole a win in Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

In fact, Bowyer’s victory was merely a footnote during an evening that produced high drama in NASCAR’s top series.

Clint Bowyer celebrates

Within three laps of a victory that would have ended a two-year, 71-race drought, Earnhardt Jr. smacked the outside wall in Turn 3 after Kyle Busch slid up the track into Junior’s No. 88 Chevrolet as the two drivers battled for the lead on Lap 398.

Busch held off Mark Martin to finish second, after angry fans threw beer cans over the catch fence onto the track as the cars circled under the caution period leading up to a green-white-checkered finish. Tony Stewart posted a solid fourth-place finish, followed by Martin Truex Jr.

Bowyer, who won for the first time this year and the second time in his career, pulled away on the two-lap dash that extended the race 10 laps beyond its scheduled distance.

Hamlin had the race’s dominant car, but the No. 11 Toyota wasn’t a factor at the end. Hamlin led a track-record 381 laps before surrendering the top spot to Earnhardt on Lap 383 after developing a slow leak in his right-front tire. Hamlin finished 24th, three laps down. Earnhardt salvaged a 15th-place result and remained third in the championship standings.

"We took advantage of a misfortune," Bowyer said, "but our Chevrolet was fast all day. … It was pretty wild up there — it was bound to happen. They were racing hard. That’s what racing at Richmond is all about, in my opinion. It just didn’t work out [for either]."

But the story was the near-win for Earnhardt, who came tantalizingly close to his first points victory as a driver for Hendrick Motorsports.

Denny Hamlin deflated

"I’ve seen the replay, and Tony [Eury] Jr. [Earnhardt's crew chief] said it looked like Kyle got loose underneath me," Earnhardt said. "We’d been racing each other before, and we had no problem. I’ve been priding myself on running good all year, and [Saturday night] we got wrecked. It’s disappointing."

Busch had his own version of events.

"Junior and I were just racing hard into Turn 3," said Busch, who took over the championship lead by 18 points over Jeff Burton. "It was just a product of good, hard racing. If I had wanted to do it deliberately, I would have waited till the last lap, when I probably still could have won the race."

Hamlin led 229 of the first 230 laps in a race that produced little carnage until contact between Carl Edwards’ Ford and J.J. Yeley’s Toyota on Lap 230 triggered a massive pile-up in Turn 3 that necessitated a stoppage to remove debris from the track.

Sustaining severe damage in the 14-car melee were the Dodges of Kurt Busch and Patrick Carpentier, the Fords of Matt Kenseth and David Gilliland and the Chevrolet of two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. Burton also caught a piece of the crash but sustained only minor damage; he remained on the lead lap and finished 11th.

Jeff Gordon went a lap down to Hamlin on Lap 43 of the opening green-flag run, but Gordon got the lap back on a free pass for a restart on Lap 145 and rallied for a ninth-place finish.

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REVISED UNOFFICAL Drivers Points Standings
[after Talladega race 9 of 36]:
1) #31-Jeff Burton 1347 [1 win]
2) #18-Kyle Busch 1325 -22 [2 wins]
3) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1268 -79
4) #11-Denny Hamlin 1248 -84 [1 win]
5) #48-Jimmie Johnson 1245 -102 [1 win]
6) #29-Kevin Harvick 1208 -139
7) #07-Clint Bowyer 1182 -165
8 ) #16-Greg Biffle 1148 -199
9) #20-Tony Stewart 1137 -210
10) #99-Carl Edwards 1084 -263 [would be 7th if no 100pt penalty][3 wins]
11) #12-Ryan Newman 1062 -285 [1 win]
12) #42-Juan Pablo Montoya 1029 -318
other chase contenders
13) #9-Kasey Kahne 1028 -1pt out of 12th
14) #24-Jeff Gordon 1018 -11
15) #6-David Ragan 994 -35
15) #83-Vickers 994 -35

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TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kyle Busch put his Talladega demons to rest – in a big way.

Busch took the lead with three laps to go then held off a number of challenges to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Aaron’s 499 on the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.

Prior to Sunday, Talladega had been a track that befuddled the talented young driver. In his six previous starts here, Busch had never cracked the top 10, and only once had he finished inside the top 30 – during the fall race of 2006.

"It’s been so long coming," said Busch, who captured his second Sprint Cup win of the season and sixth career. "I don’t think I’ve ever finished a race here – or at least, I don’t think I’ve ever finished without a car all torn up."

Making Busch’s win all the more impressive was that he fell a lap down after a miscue on pit lane 66 laps in. He didn’t get back on the lead lap until a caution flew on lap 177, when he earned the lucky dog.

Busch moved his Toyota up through the field – then on lap 184, he battled for the lead. Jimmie Johnson moved around leader Michael Waltrip, but Busch went below the reigning two-time series champion and took the top spot for good.

Busch blocked a number of attempts to pass him, and he had the lead when the white flag flew. Moments later, a multi-car wreck brought the caution out, giving Busch the win.

"First thing, Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya did a pretty awesome job pushing us," Busch said. "We just kept blocking everybody like we needed to at the end."

Montoya was second in a Dodge, followed by Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers’ Camry.

"If the fans didn’t like that, then they don’t like racing," Hamlin said. "The whole race was crazy. We were having a lot of fun out there, trying to give the fans a good show."

Travis Kvapil was sixth in a Ford, with the Chevrolet of Casey Mears seventh. Ryan Newman’s Dodge and the Impalas of Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top-10.

Busch’s win moved him within 13 points of series leader Jeff Burton, who was 15th in a Chevrolet. st 04-27-08 18:12 et

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TALLADEGA, Ala. — Results Saturday for the Aaron’s 312 race for NASCAR’s Nationwide Series at Talladega Superspeedway, listing starting position in parentheses, driver, car, laps completed with reason out if not running at the finish, points earned, driver rating and money won:

1. (1) Tony Stewart, Toyota, 117 laps, 145.9 driver rating, 195 points, $59,320.

2. (24) David Stremme, Chevrolet, 117, 106.1, 170, $44,243.

3. (36) Bobby Hamilton Jr., Ford, 117, 98.1, 165, $40,768.

4. (3) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 117, 113.3, 165, $38,893.

5. (26) Mark Green, Chevrolet, 117, 84.5, 155, $27,575.

6. (7) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 117, 119.2, 155, $23,800.

7. (2) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 117, 92.3, 146, $30,118.

8. (12) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, 117, 77.9, 142, $29,418.

9. (19) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, 117, 66.8, 138, $27,793.

10. (20) Mike Wallace, Toyota, 117, 103.0, 134, $29,443.

11. (15) Greg Biffle, Ford, 117, 107.2, 130, $21,475.

12. (23) Kertus Davis, Chevrolet, 117, 59.3, 127, $29,418.

13. (33) Morgan Shepherd, Dodge, 117, 67.3, 129, $20,775.

14. (39) Donnie Neuenberger, Chevrolet, 116, 49.2, 121, $27,118.

15. (29) Eric McClure, Chevrolet, 114, 46.4, 118, $28,443.

16. (8) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 114, 54.6, 115, $20,400.

17. (43) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, 113, 38.9, 112, $20,275.

18. (21) David Ragan, Ford, 111, 60.5, 109, $20,125.

19. (37) Robert Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, Overheating, 108, 57.1, 111, $26,468.

20. (27) David Reutimann, Toyota, 105, 68.5, 103, $20,325.

21. (35) Jason Keller, Chevrolet, 103, 57.6, 100, $26,718.

22. (9) Cale Gale, Chevrolet, Accident, 101, 65.0, 97, $26,018.

23. (5) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 97, 87.3, 99, $26,493.

24. (16) Brad Coleman, Ford, Accident, 95, 69.5, 96, $25,743.

25. (6) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 93, 51.0, 88, $19,475.

26. (17) D.J. Kennington, Dodge, Accident, 88, 70.2, 85, $25,443.

27. (40) Brett Rowe, Chevrolet, Accident, 88, 46.5, 82, $25,318.

28. (30) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 81, 63.2, 79, $25,193.

29. (32) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, Accident, 76, 69.6, 81, $18,600.

30. (28) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, Accident, 75, 63.0, 73, $25,093.

31. (11) Carl Edwards, Ford, Accident, 70, 86.5, 70, $19,325.

32. (25) Steve Wallace, Chevrolet, Accident, 70, 94.5, 67, $24,718.

33. (14) Kyle Krisiloff, Dodge, Accident, 70, 71.3, 64, $24,678.

34. (13) Stephen Leicht, Chevrolet, Accident, 70, 74.8, 61, $24,643.

35. (38) Kevin Lepage, Ford, Accident, 69, 51.6, 58, $24,608.

36. (18) Kelly Bires, Ford, Accident, 69, 65.6, 55, $24,548.

37. (10) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Engine, 47, 70.7, 52, $18,045.

38. (42) Justin Ashburn, Dodge, Rear End, 35, 25.8, 49, $18,010.

39. (41) Johnny Chapman, Chevrolet, Transmission, 29, 30.2, 46, $17,975.

40. (31) Dwayne Leik, Chevrolet, Transmission, 24, 41.7, 48, $17,915.

41. (4) Dario Franchitti, Dodge, Accident, 10, 45.4, 40, $24,598.

42. (22) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, Ignition, 10, 42.1, 37, $17,845.

43. (34) Larry Gunselman, Chevrolet, Accident, 10, 36.6, 34, $17,771.

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