Kyle Busch’s check off list became one shorter with a victory at Darlington Raceway.
Although he has been dominant in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, with five wins in nine races this year, it was the younger Busch brother’s first win at the track known as the Lady in Black.
Taking the lead from Elliott Sadler, on lap 124, Kyle Busch easily held off teammate, Denny Hamlin for his 48th Nationwide Series win, one less than the career-high 49-wins of Mark Martin.
"I love coming to Darlington and it’s a really tough, treacherous place for me. Kind of proved that because the right side doesn’t look so great, but we still were able to win today," said Kyle Busch who gave full credit to crew chief Jason Ratcliff and his crew. Then he added "it’s cool to be here in victory lane -- first time in the Nationwide Series here in Darlington so this feels pretty good.”
When asked about the final pass for the lead Busch said "He (Sadler) got slowed up with a lapped car off of turn two and I kind of built a run through one and two and got to his inside down the back and was able to clear him into three. It was a good race there for a little bit and kind of interesting. I did try once and then I just waited because there was still time and still laps left. I was trying to make sure I got by him before Denny got too close. I figured if we had a three way battle that sometimes when there’s two cars racing it just leaves room for the third car to just blow by the both of them."
Denny Hamlin explained "We challenged for the lead there on that second to last run, but when we came in that last stop we took two tires and the 18 took four (tires) and a couple other guys took four. With that wreck clearing out most of the cars, Kyle was able to restart right behind me. He just had the better tires and had the better car there at the end so we just didn’t have enough for him."
"Talking about running with the 18 (Busch) and beating the 18 are two different things," said Elliott Sadler who finished third in the Kevin Harvick Chevrolet. "We all know how good he is in a Nationwide car."
Series points leader Justin Allgaier was fourth followed by Steven Wallace.
Although he has been dominant in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, with five wins in nine races this year, it was the younger Busch brother’s first win at the track known as the Lady in Black.
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| Photo: NASCAR |
Taking the lead from Elliott Sadler, on lap 124, Kyle Busch easily held off teammate, Denny Hamlin for his 48th Nationwide Series win, one less than the career-high 49-wins of Mark Martin.
"I love coming to Darlington and it’s a really tough, treacherous place for me. Kind of proved that because the right side doesn’t look so great, but we still were able to win today," said Kyle Busch who gave full credit to crew chief Jason Ratcliff and his crew. Then he added "it’s cool to be here in victory lane -- first time in the Nationwide Series here in Darlington so this feels pretty good.”
When asked about the final pass for the lead Busch said "He (Sadler) got slowed up with a lapped car off of turn two and I kind of built a run through one and two and got to his inside down the back and was able to clear him into three. It was a good race there for a little bit and kind of interesting. I did try once and then I just waited because there was still time and still laps left. I was trying to make sure I got by him before Denny got too close. I figured if we had a three way battle that sometimes when there’s two cars racing it just leaves room for the third car to just blow by the both of them."
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| Image: NASCAR |
Denny Hamlin explained "We challenged for the lead there on that second to last run, but when we came in that last stop we took two tires and the 18 took four (tires) and a couple other guys took four. With that wreck clearing out most of the cars, Kyle was able to restart right behind me. He just had the better tires and had the better car there at the end so we just didn’t have enough for him."
"Talking about running with the 18 (Busch) and beating the 18 are two different things," said Elliott Sadler who finished third in the Kevin Harvick Chevrolet. "We all know how good he is in a Nationwide car."
Series points leader Justin Allgaier was fourth followed by Steven Wallace.