NNS: Kyle Busch Rolls On At Fontana

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NNS: Kyle Busch Rolls On At Fontana

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Nationwide Series CampingWorld.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway...

Mike Hembree | Posted October 09, 2010 Fontana, CA

Kyle Busch crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi MAX 400 at Auto Club Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Kyle Busch sprinted away from all challengers despite several caution flags over the closing laps and won Saturday's CampingWorld.com 300 Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway.

The victory was the record 12th of the season for Busch despite the fact that he is a “part-time” participant in the Nationwide Series. He has made 25 Nationwide starts this season.

Busch won the race despite the fact that fellow Sprint Cup regular Kevin Harvick had a car that could have challenged him. Harvick ran at the front much of the day but fell victim to poor pit-stop work by his team late in the race.

Harvick held the lead with 28 laps to go but fell to sixth place during a caution-period pit stop round and wasn’t able to challenge Busch over the final miles. Harvick did rebound to finish third behind Busch and series point leader Brad Keselowski.

Harvick promised changes on his pit crew. “If they can’t stand the pressure, they’re going to have to find something else to do,” he said.

A series of caution flags bunched and rebunched the field, giving Carl Edwards and Keselowski repeated shots at Busch, but he separated himself each time at the green flag. Edwards finished fourth.

“Pit road probably won this race,” Busch said. “I can’t thank these crew guys enough. To come out there and get number 12 is awesome.”

Busch won despite being nailed for pit-road speeding late in the day and being pushed to the rear of the field. He stormed through the field to return to the front, making up eight positions over a 12-lap stretch. It marked the third time this year that Busch has recovered from a speeding penalty to win a race.

“Maybe I need to do it more often,” Busch said in victory lane. “Fortunately, it all worked out our way. Harvick probably had a really, really good car on long runs and probably had the best car, but our Camry was just good enough.”

Danica Patrick was rolling toward a top-15 finish when she was involved in a multi-car crash with 10 laps to go. Patrick’s car was hit from behind, sending her into a spin and briefly lifting the car into the air. She didn’t finish the race and was 30th.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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