Kyle Busch Pulls Away For 51st Nationwide Victory

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch found a way to stay out front with a car set up for short runs and pulled away during the final green-flag run to win Friday night's Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

Busch got the opportunity for his career-best 51st Nationwide Series victory and his eighth of the season in 19 starts when Carl Edwards, who had dominated the race, lost three spots during the final round of pit stops under caution.

Edwards ran second, 0.696 seconds behind Busch. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. retained the series points lead with a third-place finish. Ryan Truex came home fourth, followed by Kenny Wallace.

Elliott Sadler, Aric Almirola, Reed Sorenson, Justin Allgaier and Joe Nemechek completed the top 10.

"Carl was certainly really, really god there, and I thought at first we were probably a third- or fourth-place car, and then kind of worked on it and made it a second- or third-place car," Busch said. "We were keeping up with Carl, and then, on that final pit stop, my guys really put the pressure on, knowing how quick they'd been on pit road all night—and they did it once again.

"We were able to get off first, and I think Carl came off fourth, so when we had the restart there, he got mired up in traffic there, and that gave us some room to get out … (Crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) and these guys made some awesome adjustments all night, making the car a little bit better—just be able to make it a little more drivable. Every run we got closer, and then, there on that last run, we had track position and a good car."

The race followed a consistent pattern: a caution, followed by a restart with Busch in the lead, followed by a pass by Edwards for the top spot a few laps later. As long as the race stayed green, Edwards was in control.

Edwards led Busch by a half-second when an ongoing fracas between Kevin Harvick and Trevor Bayne erupted into a full-blown wreck in Turn 3. Frustrated by Harvick's efforts to block him—and by contact that wrinkled the hood of Bayne's Ford—Bayne rubbed Harvick into the wall on Lap 210.

Harvick retaliated immediately, turning Bayne nose-first into the SAFER barrier in Turn 3. The incident caused the sixth caution of the race, and during pit stops under yellow, Busch regained the lead and Edwards lost three positions in the pits because of problems with the right front tire.

"It was going to be a battle if Kyle and I started side by side," said Edwards, who led 160 of 250 laps. "I thought it was going to be tough enough that way, but we had a tire get stuck on the fender, I guess, on the right front.

"The guys did a really good job, only losing three spots with that. I just couldn't get to him, and by the time I was in second, I had worked my tires over pretty badly, and I needed a caution to start next to him again. But Kyle and those guys definitely earned it—we didn't give it to 'em with that pit stop. I think they were going to be tough either way."

The field restarted on Lap 221, with Busch out front, followed by Stenhouse, Truex and Edwards. After that final restart, Busch began to pull away.

Notes: Stenhouse leads second Sadler by 16 points in the series standings. … Stenhouse also won the $100,000 Nationwide Dash4Cash bonus. Stenhouse, Truex, Wallace and Sadler earned eligibility for the Dash4Cash bonus in the Oct. 14 race at Charlotte.

Results

FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Z-Line Designs 0 250 Running
2 2 60 Carl Edwards Ford Fastenal "Honoring Our Heroes" 0 250 Running
3 6 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford Fastenal "Honoring Our Heroes" 41/0 250 Running
4 10 20 Ryan Truex * Toyota Schick Xtreme3 40/0 250 Running
5 5 09 Kenny Wallace Toyota Federated Auto Parts 39/0 250 Running
6 8 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet OneMain Financial 38/0 250 Running
7 16 88 Aric Almirola Chevrolet AdvoCare 37/0 250 Running
8 17 32 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet Dollar General 36/0 250 Running
9 22 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet Dollar General 35/0 250 Running
10 15 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota DAB Constructors / AMFMEnergy.com – Pellet & Wood Stoves 34/0 250 Running
11 26 62 Michael Annett Toyota Freightliner Trucks 33/0 250 Running
12 18 19 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Hilton Garden Inn Richmond Downtown 32/0 250 Running
13 14 70 David Stremme Chevrolet Foretravel Motorcoach 0 250 Running
14 28 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet Clements Racing Engines 31/1 250 Running
15 24 01 Mike Wallace Chevrolet G&K Services 29/0 250 Running
16 7 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 5-Hour Energy 28/0 250 Running
17 38 15 Timmy Hill * Ford Lilly Trucking of Virginia 27/0 250 Running
18 32 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet GoDaddy.com / GetYour.NET 26/0 250 Running
19 1 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge Ruby Tuesday 0 250 Running
20 13 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Rheem Heating, Cooling & Water Heating 0 250 Running
21 37 28 Derrike Cope Chevrolet Maxelence 23/0 247 Running
22 39 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet North Texas Pipe 22/0 247 Running
23 40 52 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet T&T Performance / Metro Ministries OperationHolidayHope.org 21/0 246 Running
24 41 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet Victory In Jesus 20/0 246 Running
25 42 39 Luis Martinez Jr. Ford King Taco 19/0 246 Running
26 27 30 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet Monster Energy 0 245 Running
27 35 81 Blake Koch * Dodge Daystar.com 17/0 211 Running
28 4 16 Trevor Bayne Ford Fastenal "Honoring Our Heroes" 16/0 209 In Pit
29 11 38 Jason Leffler Chevrolet Great Clips 15/0 178 Running
30 20 14 Eric McClure Chevrolet Hefty BlackOut / Reynolds 14/0 158 Running
31 9 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet Phoenix Construction 0 155 In Pit
32 12 11 Brian Scott Toyota Shore Lodge 12/0 145 Running
33 21 40 Josh Wise Chevrolet Cajun Industries 11/0 69 In Pit
34 25 141 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet Lilly Trucking of Virginia 10/0 42 In Pit
35 30 171 Matthew Carter Ford Lilly Trucking of Virginia 9/0 37 In Pit
36 23 44 Jeff Green Chevrolet TriStar Motorsports 8/0 27 In Pit
37 36 175 Carl Long Ford RaceCash.com / Lilly Trucking of Virginia 7/0 24 In Pit
38 43 142 Tim Andrews Chevrolet Key Motorsports 0 9 In Pit
39 34 248 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet Jay Robinson Inc. 5/0 9 In Pit
40 19 49 Mark Green Chevrolet Acredale Vending 4/0 8 In Pit
41 31 103 Scott Riggs Chevrolet North Texas Pipe 3/0 7 In Pit
42 33 146 Chase Miller Chevrolet Key Motorsports 2/0 4 In Pit
43 29 147 Brian Keselowski Chevrolet Key Motorsports 0 2 In Pit

* Denotes Rookie

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