Busch wins the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway for his third consecutive win his fourth of the season.  It marked his  sixth victory at the speedway.

Brad Keselowski finished second, Austin Dillon third, Dale Earnhardt Jr fourth and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-5.

Alex Bowman started on the pole for the first time in his young career.  Bowman led the first lap after Busch spun the tires. Keselowski went three wide to get fourth and Hornish Jr took over second on lap 2 as he looks like he had a very fast hot rod. Hornish battled with Bowman for the lead with Busch and Keselowski right behind the two. Hornish Jr took over the lead on the backstretch on lap 4. Keselowski took the lead on lap 23 when Hornish Jr was in lap traffic and it made Keselowski catch up to him and make the pass for the top position.

The first caution waved when the No.23 of Robert Richardson Jr spun his Chevy in turns 1 and 2. All of the leaders came in to pit and everybody took four tires and Busch led the field off of pit road. Hornish followed him in second.

They went back to green on lap 31 with Busch leading. There was three wide racing behind Busch and Hornish Jr. as they were trying to get every single position they could get.

The second caution waved when the No.32 of Kyle Larson was spinning in the front stretch and barley avoided Earnhardt Jr. They both escaped with no damage except for Larson, who has a flat tire. None of the front runners came in to pit due to being in pit road during the first caution. Justin Allgaier, who was 17th, was the first one to come onto pit lane. Larson was trying to keep up with the pace car but his left front tire blew and he almost hit the safety truck. He hit the wall to avoid it which seemed to be the right choice.

Green Flag waved on lap 50 when Busch continued to lead but was getting challenged from the two Penske cars. Keselowski took over the lead and pulled away from Busch.

Caution waved for the third time for debris. Everybody came in for their second pit stop of the day and Keselowski, Hornish Jr, Busch, Earnhardt Jr and Kevin Harvick did not take tires while Kasey Kahne and Regan Smith took four tires.

Green Flag was back out on Lap 70 with Busch leading them to the stripe. Hornish Jr did not waste any time and took over the lead but they could not  just take it easy as Kahne, who took four tires, was  coming fast. He passed Hornish on Lap 73 for the lead and it told all of the crew chiefs that tires will be very much needed for the end of the race.

Caution came out for the fourth time for debris in the same spot. Most drivers came in and everybody had a different strategy. Kahne took four tires but he has only one set of tires left for the reminder of the race. Elliott Sadler, Austin Dillon, Brian Scott and others took no tires and will start up in the front. Matt Kenseth, for crying out loud, did not even pit!

They restarted the race on lap 99 with Kenseth leading. He cleared Dillon and Sadler and led the following lap while they raced 3 wide in the middle of the pack. Hornish Jr restarted in 16th and within four laps, he was up to second. Hornish Jr was flying and  zoomed past Kenseth with 94 to go and took over the lead. Kahne has gotten through the traffic and has got to Hornish Jr and was battling for the lead with 89 to go. He took the lead in the Great Clips Jr. Motorsports car. Busch then took the lead from Kahne at the start finish line with 85 to go.

The fifth caution came out when the No.23 of Richardson Jr spun in the frontstretch while No. 4 of Landon Cassill was very slow on the backstretch. All of the leaders came in to pit with 78 laps to go. Hornish Jr, Earnhardt Jr and Kahne took no tires and came out first while Keselowski and other took four tires. Busch had trouble with some lug nuts and fell to 8th place on pit road.

Green flag waved once again with 73 to go with Hornish Jr leading but it was his teammate who came out with the lead one lap later. Hornish Jr fell back to 13th. Dillon and Busch battled for second while Keselowski pulled away with the lead.

The sixth caution waved when the No.92 of Dexter Stacey was basically drifting not spin out while the No.23 of Richardson Jr for the third time, spun onto the front stretch. When they went green, the action continued! Busch and Keselowski were battling but Hornish Jr spun out and has some damage! Junior and Vickers came in and got fuel while Junior got tires. Earnhardt Jr still has a set of tires on his pit box while most drivers do not have any tires left.

They went back racing with 52 laps to go with side by side battles all around the track. With 40 laps to go, Bayne said that he is overheating and that it is about 310 degrees. He had to come in to get new tires and get the debris off the car.

Caution came out for debris and everybody came in for what could be their final pit stops. Busch led them off as mostly everybody took four tires. Blake Koch took no tires and came out 7th but he will be sliding back really fast.

Once again the green flag waved, Busch just flew! He was pulling away and never looked back.

There were 22 lead changes among 11 drivers, both setting new track records.

Hornish Jr. now leads the series point standings by two points over Regan Smith.