Kurt Busch wins wild Nationwide race at Daytona

Kurt Busch celebrates

The Great Pumpkin arrived early, and Kurt Busch left Daytona International Speedway with something more than peanuts after winning Friday night's Subway Jalapeno 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race in a battered No. 1 Chevrolet that looked like a refuge from Halloween.

With a strong push from defending series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Busch took the checkered flag in a wild race that ended with Austin Dillon wrecking in the tri-oval as Busch crossed the finish line.

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 1 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag as he crosses the finish line ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 6 NOS Energy Drink Ford, Michael Annett, driver of the No. 43 Pilot Flying J Ford, and Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/NRA Museum Chevrolet, to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeno 250

Stenhouse came home second, followed by Michael Annett, who was pushing Dillon during a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race one lap beyond its scheduled distance of 100 laps.

As the action intensified over the final quarter-mile, Dillon slid sideways across the stripe in fourth place, with Joey Logano and series leader Elliott Sadler taking fifth and sixth, respectively. The top-five for Logano, the series' top winner with five victories this season, took a sour turn in post-race inspection when his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was ruled too low in front. Penalties for the No. 18 team are possible early next week.

Busch picked up his second win of the season and his fifth in 23 Nationwide starts, in a day-glow orange car that differed from the usual bright red he drives for owner James Finch.

"I showed up at the shop on Tuesday, and we talked about how our Kentucky week went, what we could have done better," Busch said. "I went out back in the fab (fabrication) shop, and they were wrapping on both of our cars, this fluorescent orange color. And I'm like, 'What's going on?'

"It's just the energy James Finch has for Daytona. He wanted his cars orange, so they could be seen up front, so that car could be recognized without a sponsor on it. And we drove an unsponsored car into Victory Lane tonight. I was just being my normal sarcastic self on the radio, and I said, 'The Great Pumpkin is here, and the Great Pumpkin isn't going to lift coming to the checkered flag.' "

Stenhouse saw an opportunity on the restart with two laps left and planted the nose of his car on Busch's rear bumper.

"That last restart, we didn't have many people to work with, and I saw him (Busch) hung out there in the center, and I got a good restart and jumped to the middle and caught up with the 1," Stenhouse said. "He was fast all night, and I just pushed him to the win.

"I was hoping I could make a move there (coming to the finish), but I saw the 3 (Dillon) and everybody coming, so I kind of tried to duck out and block them, and we ended up second. It was exciting, and I hope the fans enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun."

Danica Patrick led 14 laps and escaped one major wreck before being collected late in the race.

As Kevin Harvick and Mike Wallace tried to swap positions at the front of the field on Lap 66, Patrick pushed Justin Allgaier to the front as a 15-car wreck erupted behind her. Wallace moved down the track into the Chevrolet of James Buescher, then bounced up into Brad Keselowski's Dodge in the outside lane.

The chain-reaction wreck also collected Harvick, series leader Sadler, Kurt and Kyle Busch, Cole Whitt (Patrick's JR Motorsports teammate), Clint Bowyer and Annett, among others. Sadler's damage was minimal, and he soon regained the lead. Annett's crew repaired cosmetic damage on his car as well.

In fact, Sadler held the point on Lap 83, when an off-center push from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. turned Jeffrey Earnhardt sideways in front of the main pack of cars. As drivers checked up in reaction to the wreck, Patrick was launched toward the inside SAFER barrier and took a vicious hit when her No. 7 Chevrolet slammed into the wall.

Busch made six pit stops under caution as his crew repaired the damage to his car — enough to get it to Victory Lane.

Notes: One week after he claimed his first top-five finish in 120 Nationwide starts, Annett picked up his second one . . . Stenhouse, Annett, Dillon and Sadler qualified for the first leg of Nationwide's Dash 4 Cash next Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The top finisher among those four drivers wins $100,000 . . . Dillon started 42nd after his pole-winning qualifying time was disallowed because a cooling tube in the No. 3 Chevrolet was left open into the cockpit, contrary to a technical bulletin NASCAR issued earlier in the week . . . The race set a Nationwide Series track record for lead changes (42 between 16 drivers).

RACE RESULTS

1. (5) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 101, $85,900.
2. (1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 101, $71,693.
3. (17) Michael Annett, Ford, 101, $47,118.
4. (42) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 101, $37,743.
5. (8) Joey Logano, Toyota, 101, $25,150.
6. (13) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 101, $29,218.
7. (21) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 101, $28,103.
8. (15) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 101, $27,063.
9. (37) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 101, $25,968.
10. (16) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 101, $26,168.
11. (33) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 101, $25,043.
12. (11) Johanna Long, Chevrolet, 101, $24,168.
13. (28) Danny Efland, Chevrolet, 101, $23,643.
14. (29) Jason Bowles, Toyota, 101, $23,118.
15. (22) Tayler Malsam, Toyota, 101, $23,868.
16. (27) Josh Richards, Ford, 101, $16,175.
17. (34) Robert Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, 101, $22,518.
18. (26) Eric McClure, Toyota, 101, $22,393.
19. (31) Blake Koch, Dodge, 101, $18,400.
20. (32) Bryan Silas, Ford, 100, $16,350.
21. (41) Erik Darnell, Chevrolet, 99, $22,018.
22. (25) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 97, $21,893.
23. (20) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 94, $15,475.
24. (19) Brad Sweet, Chevrolet, 93, $21,618.
25. (18) John Wes Townley, Toyota, 89, $21,768.
26. (12) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 86, $15,100.
27. (24) Casey Roderick, Toyota, 84, $21,218.
28. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, Accident, 84, $14,575.
29. (2) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 83, $21,418.
30. (30) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ford, Accident, 82, $14,625.
31. (3) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, Accident, 82, $20,663.
32. (9) Brian Scott, Toyota, 82, $20,528.
33. (10) Bobby Santos III, Chevrolet, Accident, 80, $13,950.
34. (14) James Buescher, Chevrolet, Accident, 71, $20,308.
35. (6) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, Accident, 66, $13,735.
36. (7) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, Accident, 65, $20,168.
37. (40) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, Overheating, 50, $13,665.
38. (36) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, Overheating, 31, $13,611.
39. (35) TJ Bell, Chevrolet, Engine, 22, $13,495.
40. (43) Chase Miller, Chevrolet, Vibration, 5, $13,430.
41. (39) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, Transmission, 4, $13,370.
42. (38) Stephen Leicht, Chevrolet, Overheating, 3, $13,320.
43. (23) Jeff Green, Toyota, Overheating, 3, $13,253.

RACE STATISTICS

Average Speed of Race Winner: 132.045 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 54 Mins, 44 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.054 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 24 laps.
Lead Changes: 42 among 16 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Whitt 1-3; C. Bowyer 4; B. Keselowski 5; E. Sadler 6; Kurt Busch 7; J. Logano 8; J. Clements 9; S. Hornish Jr. 10-14; J. Logano 15; Kurt Busch 16-17; D. Patrick 18-22; Kurt Busch 23-30; M. Wallace 31; J. Nemechek 32-33; Kyle Busch 34-36; Kurt Busch 37-42; D. Patrick 43-44; J. Clements 45; J. Nemechek 46-48; J. Logano 49-52; B. Keselowski 53; J. Logano 54-55; D. Patrick 56; M. Wallace 57-58; D. Patrick 59-62; J. Buescher 63; K. Harvick 64-65; J. Allgaier 66-67; D. Patrick 68; J. Allgaier 69-72; J. Logano 73-75; A. Dillon 76; Kurt Busch 77-81; E. Sadler 82-89; S. Hornish Jr. 90; A. Dillon 91; E. Sadler 92; A. Dillon 93-95; J. Allgaier 96; A. Dillon 97-99; J. Logano 100; Kurt Busch 101.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kurt Busch 6 times for 23 laps; D. Patrick 5 times for 13 laps; J. Logano 6 times for 12 laps; E. Sadler 3 times for 10 laps; A. Dillon 4 times for 8 laps; J. Allgaier 3 times for 7 laps; S. Hornish Jr. 2 times for 6 laps; J. Nemechek 2 times for 5 laps; C. Whitt 1 time for 3 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 3 laps; M. Wallace 2 times for 3 laps; B. Keselowski 2 times for 2 laps; K. Harvick 1 time for 2 laps; J. Clements 2 times for 2 laps; J. Buescher 1 time for 1 lap; C. Bowyer 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: E. Sadler – 591; A. Dillon – 589; R. Stenhouse Jr. – 573; S. Hornish Jr. – 556; J. Allgaier – 519; M. Annett – 496; C. Whitt – 488; M. Bliss – 427; D. Patrick – 383; T. Malsam – 369