NCWTS: Busch becomes first repeat winner at Dover
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Busch and Whitt battled for the lead in a series of late restarts. Busch was able to pull away from Whitt after the final restart on lap 198 of the 200-lap event. The race ended under caution when Nelson Piquet Jr. and Timothy Peters wrecked on the last lap.
"I snookered him (Whitt) on the second-to-last restart, and I got him a little bit there, but on that last restart, he was right with me. We ran down into turn 1 side-by-side. I chose the bottom because I felt like, running through 1 and 2 wide open, it was the faster way around," Busch said.
The win was Busch's third in five series starts this season and his 27th in 90 career starts. It marks his 96th victory across all three of NASCAR's top series, tying him with Mark Martin for fifth-best all-time.
The race had nine cautions, 11 lead changes and eight different leaders.
Whitt led 23 laps in an impressive run before finishing second, a career best. Pole sitter Justin Marks scored a career best as well, finishing in the 10th spot.
Kevin Harvick finished fifth after a speeding penalty on lap 156 took him out of contention for the win. Earlier in the week NASCAR placed Harvick and Busch on a four-race probation and fined each $25,000 for a post-race altercation after last weekend's Sprint Cup race at Darlington. Though Harvick and Busch started second and third, respectively, there were no incidents between the two during Friday's race.
After crossing the finish line in third place, Matt Crafton leads the Truck Series points standings by five points over ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter.
Race highlights:
Lap 8: J.R. Fitzpatrick (No. 99) in accident on the backstretch
Lap 47: Craig Goess (No. 46) in accident in turn 2
Lap 55: Brad Sweet (No. 32) spins in turn 2
Lap 74: Ricky Carmichael (No. 4) wrecks in turn 3. Miguel Paludo (No. 7) heavily damaged as well
Lap 156: Caution called for debris on the backstretch
Lap 179: Justin Lofton (No. 77) spins on the frontstretch
Lap 186: Craig Goess (No. 46) and Shane Sieg (No. 93) wreck in turn 3
Lap 194: Parker Kligerman (No. 29) wrecks in turn 4 after close racing with Cole Whitt (No. 60)
Lap 200: Nelson Piquet Jr. (No. 8) and Timothy Peters (No. 17) wreck in turn 1
Lucas Oil 200 race results:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Cole Whitt
3. Matt Crafton
4. Austin Dillon
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Joey Coulter
7. Brendan Gaughan
8. James Buescher
9. Ron Hornaday
10. Justin Marks
11. Johnny Sauter
12. David Starr
13. Max Papis
14. Jason White
15. Ryan Sieg
16. Nelson Piquet Jr.
17. Timothy Peters
18. Chris Fontaine
19. Shane Sieg
20. Clay Rogers
21. Parker Kligerman
22. Johanna Long
23. Travis Kvapil
24. Craig Goess
25. Justin Lofton
26. Norm Benning
27. Todd Bodine
28. Miguel Paludo
29. Ricky Carmichael
30. Brad Sweet
31. Johnny Chapman
32. Chris Jones
33. Carl Long
34. J.R. Fitzpatrick
35. Mike Garvey
36. Chris Lafferty
NCWTS: Busch becomes first repeat winner at Dover
Reviewed by Rebecca Kivak
on
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Rating: