Busch conquers the mile, and the record books

Dover, DE – Kyle Busch smiled all the way to victory lane, as he conquered the Monster Mile for the season sweep, and another illustrious record. With his 11^th win of the 2010 season, Busch breaks the record for most wins in a single season. The record was previously set by Sam Ard, who had 10 wins in 1983.

“It’s very special, Sam is a great individual and was a great driver in his time,” Busch said. “For us to win 11 this year it is very special to me.”

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver known as ‘Rowdy’ continues to shake things up in the Nationwide Series as he looks for an opportunity to steal the owner’s championship title. With his 41^st victory in 196 NASCAR Nationwide starts, he leads that category. Busch could bring the third consecutive ownership title to JGR, tying Bill Baumgardner. He presently sits 500 points out in third place in the driver’s point battle.

Busch, a Sprint Cup Series regular will enter six of the final seven scheduled Nationwide Series races. In his last five appearances in the Nationwide Series at Dover, Busch has led the most laps in each event. With his impressive lead, Busch passed Harry Gant on the all-time leader’s list at Dover. In the Nationwide Series, he has led a total of 853 laps at Dover.

“For us it was a really good day, we kept it out front and kept it in clean air,” Kyle said. “For myself, I like to go out there and think that I can win every weekend. For where I am and what the team has been able to accomplish I am very fortunate,” he said.

The NOS Team posted a perfect driver rating of 150 during Saturday‘s race. “This has been one day that we’ve been waiting for. Everyone has worked extremely hard, “said Jason Ratcliffe, Crew Chief on the No. 18 Toyota.

The first caution of the day flew for the most popular driver, Danica Patrick when her Go Daddy.com Chevrolet lost a tire in turn 4. At that point in the race she was already two laps down to then leader Kyle Busch.

By lap 95, Busch pulled out to a 1.5 second lead over Carl Edwards. Point leader Brad Keselowski was running fifth at the time.

On lap 113 it was former Sprint Cup Series competitor Derrike Cope that brought out the caution. His No. 73 machine lost a tire, hit the outside wall.

The hardest hit came after Elliott Sadler lost the aerodynamics of the car in turn four on lap 135 bringing out the third caution of the day. His No. 88 Realtree Chevrolet, fielded by JR Motorsports, spun out and backed into the fence. As Sadler slid down the banking, Drew Herring slammed into Sadler bringing out the red flag. Debris scattered throughout the turn added to the length of the red flag which was displayed for 10 minutes, 42 seconds. This was Herrings first visit to Dover.  Both drivers were treated, evaluated and released from the infield medical center.

The final caution flew for a spin involving Brad Keselowski; Ryan Newman stayed out to lead the laps under caution, but could not keep Busch in his sights. Busch charged past Newman and never looked back.

Following Busch to the checkered flag was his teammate Logan, Carl Edwards, Reed Sorenson and Kevin Harvick. Rounding out the top 10 were Trevor Bayne, Paul Menard, Jason Leffler, Justin Allgaier and Ryan Newman. Points leader Keselowski would finish 17^th and still maintains a 320 point lead over Edwards. Danica Patrick would be credited with 35^th. The highest finishing rookie is Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

—

Joey Logano claimed his twelfth career pole for the Dover 200. This was Logano’s fifth pole in the 2010 season. Driver of the No. 20 Gamestop Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing shared the front row with his teammate Kyle Busch in the No. 18 NOS Toyota.

Other Sprint Cup Series drivers pulling double duty in Dover included David Gilliland, Mike Bliss, Michael McDowell, Tony Raines and Joe Nemechek.

Unofficial Results