Kyle Busch extended his Nationwide season win record to 12 at the Auto Club Speedway.
While Kyle Busch finished ahead Brad Keselowski, a lengthy pit stop may have cost third place Kevin Harvick the race.
Kevin Harvick had led on long runs, but, when the yellow flag was waved late in the race his crew stumbled, with a pit stop about five seconds slower than Busch who dominated who short runs to the finish. Harvick had pitted on the lead and came out sixth due to that slow stop.
Kyle Busch bounced back, from a speed penalty for the third time this year, for his fourth win at the two-mile oval.
"I don’t know, maybe I need to do it more often," Kyle Busch said. "I don’t like doing it that late in the race. Obviously, it makes it a little bit harder and you never know what can happen, especially since we saw those late cautions. That could happen at a point in which I get a speeding penalty and I have to go to the back and we can get caught up in one of those. Fortunately it all worked out our way and played our way."
"Kevin Harvick probably had a really, really good car on long runs. He showed that today and probably had the best car but our Camry was just good enough where it needed to be on the front side of those runs where we had enough cautions there at the end that we held him off."
Series points leader, Keselowski, said "we just didn’t have enough for the 18 (Busch). I think we could run with Kevin (Harvick), but once we got behind in traffic it was really hard to make ground on the leaders. It was a solid second-place finish."
Kevin Harvick was frustrated with his KHI pit crew. "Took the best car and gave it away on pit road . We’ll make some changes we have to take the next step because they can’t make it on pit road."
Danica Patrick was having her best day in the Nationwide Series closing in on her goal of a top-15 finish when she was struck from behind by James Buescher spun and finished 30th with 11-laps to go.
"I was really happy that the car was good on the long runs," Danica Patrick said. "I came on at the end; I think that we are getting closer. A lot of things went really well. But the results, weren’t very good, but, we’re going to have a lot of confidence going to Charlotte."
This was Busch’s 42nd Nationwide win putting him six shy of Mark Martin’s all-time record of 48.
While Kyle Busch finished ahead Brad Keselowski, a lengthy pit stop may have cost third place Kevin Harvick the race.
Kevin Harvick had led on long runs, but, when the yellow flag was waved late in the race his crew stumbled, with a pit stop about five seconds slower than Busch who dominated who short runs to the finish. Harvick had pitted on the lead and came out sixth due to that slow stop.
Kyle Busch bounced back, from a speed penalty for the third time this year, for his fourth win at the two-mile oval.
"I don’t know, maybe I need to do it more often," Kyle Busch said. "I don’t like doing it that late in the race. Obviously, it makes it a little bit harder and you never know what can happen, especially since we saw those late cautions. That could happen at a point in which I get a speeding penalty and I have to go to the back and we can get caught up in one of those. Fortunately it all worked out our way and played our way."
"Kevin Harvick probably had a really, really good car on long runs. He showed that today and probably had the best car but our Camry was just good enough where it needed to be on the front side of those runs where we had enough cautions there at the end that we held him off."
Series points leader, Keselowski, said "we just didn’t have enough for the 18 (Busch). I think we could run with Kevin (Harvick), but once we got behind in traffic it was really hard to make ground on the leaders. It was a solid second-place finish."
Kevin Harvick was frustrated with his KHI pit crew. "Took the best car and gave it away on pit road . We’ll make some changes we have to take the next step because they can’t make it on pit road."
Danica Patrick was having her best day in the Nationwide Series closing in on her goal of a top-15 finish when she was struck from behind by James Buescher spun and finished 30th with 11-laps to go.
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| Danica Patrick hitting the wall - Image nascar.com |
"I was really happy that the car was good on the long runs," Danica Patrick said. "I came on at the end; I think that we are getting closer. A lot of things went really well. But the results, weren’t very good, but, we’re going to have a lot of confidence going to Charlotte."
This was Busch’s 42nd Nationwide win putting him six shy of Mark Martin’s all-time record of 48.