Busch Gets Wild Win At Darlington

After spending the week in the spotlight after his late incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond, Kyle Busch looked to continue his early season run at Darlington. His race was kind of a indication of what his week was like. Busch was able to get past the venom from the Dale Jr. fans and other potential troubles to capture the win at the Dodge Challenger 500 Saturday night.

For many fans, Kyle Busch is not at the top of their list of favorite drivers.  His attitude has turned off many NASCAR followers in the past.  He earned himself even more enemies after his run-in with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the closing laps at Richmond.  After spending the week in a controversial spotlight, Kyle was able to put it past him and take his third win of the season at the Dodge Challenger 500 at historic Darlington Raceway Saturday night.

 

A win at Darlington is no easy task for any driver.  It was even more difficult and even a bit remarkable how Kyle Busch was able to do it.  Obviously, he had to deal with most of the fans showering with boos and probably some other words that you wouldn't want children to hear.  On the track, it was even more difficult.  Busch was put in a tough spot after a pit road penalty for a lug nut problem.  Busch also found himself bouncing off the walls a few times, earning himself several "Darlington Stripes".  Even through all of that, he still led the most laps (169 of the 367 circuits).  Busch has now won eight races in NASCAR's top three series' this season.  He now holds a 79 point lead in the Sprint Cup standings over Jeff Burton.

 

The biggest story going into Saturday night's event was the new look of the old South Carolina track.  Darlington Raceway got a brand new racing surface for this event.  The new pavement promised faster speeds, which made for a new tire for this race.  This just made "The Track Too Tough To Tame" even tougher and more unpredictable.

 

Several drivers earned themselves a "Darlington Stripe" in Saturday night's race.  There were eight cautions for 31 laps.  The first was very early in the race.  On the third lap, Elliott Sadler crashed into Tony Stewart.  Tony ended up finishing 21st with Sadler way back in 42nd.  Another big name to have trouble was Kevin Harvick.  On lap 149, he slammed the wall on the back stretch.  He ended up way back in 39th.  On lap 236, debris from pole sitter Greg Biffle brought out another caution.  After leading 95 laps, Biffle finished last in the 43 car field.

 

Kyle Busch's recent run has kind of put Carl Edwards's big start to the season on the back burner.  But, Edwards had a solid run in claiming a second place finish.  Hendrick placed two in the top five, with Jeff Gordon finishing third with Dale Earnhardt Jr. rebounding after Richmond to finish fourth.  In addition, Earnhardt stayed in third while Gordon got back into Chase position, jumping three spots to tenth in the standings.

 

David Ragan had one of the best runs of the night, finishing in fifth.  His Roush teammate Matt Kenseth placed right behind him in sixth.  Denny Hamlin followed in seventh with Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney, and Jeff Burton rounding out the top ten.  Other notable finishes were Kurt Bush in 12th, Jimmie Johnson in 13th, last week's winner Clint Bowyer in 15th, Kasey Kahne in 22nd, and Ryan Newman in 37th.

 

The sport pays a visit to the Lowe's Motor Speedway for NASCAR's annual All-Star weekend.  The trucks will race on Friday night with the Sprint Cup All Star Race on Saturday night.

By:  CrimsonCowboy