Friday night’s Royal Purple 200 at Darlington International Raceway ended the same way each of the previous nine Nationwide races have finished; with a Sprint Cup regular taking the checkered flag.
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[/media-credit]Kyle Busch once again dominated the field, never falling out of the top 10, and notched his fifth win in just nine starts.
Right from the start it was obvious that Busch, along with Sprint Cup regulars Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin were the teams to beat.
Hamlin, who finished third, started 16th and climbed inside the top 10 within the first 10 laps. Like Busch, Hamlin would not fall below the 10th position for the remainder of the event.
Early in the race Edwards, who started third, leapfrogged back and forth with Busch through the first 90 laps before being caught up in a back stretch crash on lap 95.
Once the dust settled Edwards couldn’t over come the damage to the right front of his car and fell back as far as 20th. He would mount a charge into the top 15, but never seemed to be a contender, finishing 20th.
Elliot Sadler finished third, one position ahead of series point’s leader Justin Allgaier. Looking ahead to Dover, Allgaier, who has no wins and six top tens, will tackle Miles the Monster with a five point advantage over Sadler.
In his post race press conference, Busch said he was very happy with his Z-Lines Camry the moment it was unloaded from the truck. Busch said crew chief Jason Radcliff prepared him a fast car that paid off for his first Darlington win.
Tonight’s win puts Busch just one win away from tying Mark Martin for the all time wins in the Nationwide Series.
Busch stated he would like to achieve that record in his Z-Lines Toyota. This would have to happen after the Dover race. Next weeks entry for Busch is sponsored by Mac Tools. Busch returns to his Z-Lines Camry three weeks from now, May 28th, at Charlotte.
