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Kyle Busch sets record at Dover Nationwide race
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By Dan Gelston
September 25, 2010
Dover, DE — Kyle Busch took a dominating romp on the concrete and rolled into the NASCAR record book.
Busch set a single-season record for wins in the Nationwide Series, taking the checkered flag for the 11th time in only 23 races on Saturday at Dover International Speedway.
Busch was tied with Sam Ard for the previous record with 10 wins. Busch also won 10 races in 2008, matching the record Ard set in NASCAR’s second-tier series in 1983.
“It’s very special,” Busch said. “Sam is a great individual and was a great driver in his time.”
Busch has been all about total control this season on a partial schedule. Imagine how out in front he’d be with the record if he drove every race.
And he’s not done breaking records: Busch is closing in on Mark Martin’s career Nationwide mark of 48 wins. Busch is in second at 41.
He led 192 of 200 laps, received a big ovation after the race and waved his index finger out the window.
“It’s very cool,” Busch said. “We’ve still got more races to go. I’m looking forward to more wins hopefully.”
Joey Logano was second and Carl Edwards third.
Danica Patrick ran into the wall early in the race and was forced into the garage. She returned in the No. 7 Chevrolet and finished 94 laps down in 35th place.
“It’s hot out there. I just took a nice little break in the middle 100 laps,” Patrick said. “No, I was really disappointed.”
Busch wasn’t disappointed with another stellar outing on the 1-mile concrete track. He also has three wins in Sprint Cup and five in the Trucks Series this season. He became the first driver in the 15 years that NASCAR has been running three national series to win all of them in the same week when he did it last month at Bristol Motor Speedway.
About the only time Busch didn’t dominate Dover was during a 10 minute, 42-second red flag caused by a vicious accident that took out Drew Herring and Elliott Sadler. Debris, oil and fluid covered the track after the scary wreck. Both drivers walked away fine.
Patrick continued to struggle in her first season in NASCAR. She called her string of poor finishes in Nationwide “humbling” and hoped running Friday at Dover in low-tier developmental series would help her handling of the track.
“Every time I think I’m going to do well, I don’t do well,” she said. “I don’t know what I need out of the car to be good in the race. We’ll get this car to the front by the end of the year and we’ll figure it out.”
Busch has 18 top-fives this season running a partial schedule in the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s third in the points standings behind leader Brad Keselowski and Edwards.
“I would have liked to have run the whole season,” Busch said. “But I look back and I know what the bigger picture is. The bigger picture is Sunday.”
He means Sprint Cup where he’s still chasing his first championship.
Busch’s name is alone in the win total, but he gave plenty of love to his crew. He even dragged his veteran car chief Leo Thorsen into Victory Lane. Thorsen had long skipped the postrace celebration because of his superstitions.
Busch got Thorsen to promise he’d join him in Victory Lane if he won 11 times.
“I told him, ‘If I ever get to 11, you’re coming,”’ Busch said. “We lived up to our word. I got it, he came.”
• NASCAR News Archive Index:
2010, 2009
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