Busch regains touch in Nationwide series
LOUDON, N.H. — Kyle Busch figured out a way to win again in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series.
After two straight frustrating runner-up finishes in the second-tier series, Busch passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano near the end of the Camping World 200 on Saturday and held off the precocious 19-year-old to get the victory at New Hampshire International Speedway.
Logano, who started from the pole and led 108 of the 200 laps, beat Busch out of the pits by the length of a hood on the final pit stop by the two drivers. But Busch was able to stay with the leader and eventually drive past him with 36 laps left.
“We just kept adjusting on our car all day,” said Busch, who had led the most laps in the last eight Nationwide races while winning only two. “Normally, when we’re out front, we don’t adjust on it. Today we didn’t have the winning car; we made the winning car.”
Busch, who led 37 laps, picked up his fifth Nationwide win of the year and 26th of his career. The 24-year-old, also a star in Sprint Cup and the Camping World Truck Series, has 52 wins in his NASCAR career.
• TRUCKS — At Memphis, Tenn., Ron Hornaday dominated his second consecutive race and won the NASCAR Camping World MemphisTravel.com 200, beating Brian Scott by 0.65 seconds in a green-white-checker finish.
Hornaday, who won last week at Milwaukee by leading 180 of 200 laps, had a similar performance at Memphis Motorsports Park, starting on the pole and leading 176 of 200 laps on the three-quarters-mile oval.
A caution with five laps to go, caused when Dennis Setzer and Tayler Malsam got together, cut Hornaday’s commanding lead with a restart and resulted in the green-white-checker finish.
• IRL — At Richmond, Va., Scott Dixon grabbed the lead from teammate Dario Franchitti on pit road just before the midpoint and got his 19th career IndyCar Series victory at Richmond International Raceway, tying Sam Hornish Jr.’s series record.
Dixon and Franchitti, teammates with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, started on the front row and stayed there all night, benefiting from a one-groove racetrack that made passing difficult, and from their patience as most everyone else made green-flag pit stops.
Twice they held out just long enough — watching most of the field head down pit road as the field zipped by under a green flag — and got the yellow flags that made it pay off.
• NHRA — At Norwalk, Ohio, Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon raced to a time of 3.882 seconds (301.74 mph) to claim his third No. 1 qualifying position of the season for today’s finals of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.
Other top qualifiers were Mike Neff (4.190, 279.93) in Funny Car, Greg Anderson (6.644, 207.34) in Pro Stock and Andrew Hines (6.944, 192.28) in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
