As the second- and third-place finishing teams confronted each other in the pits, Kyle Busch was taking bows for his fourth NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of the year.
Busch won the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway under caution when Mike Wallace's wreck slowed the race after Busch had taken the white flag for a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the event two laps beyond its posted distance of 200.
Driving the No. 32 Braun Racing Toyota, Busch ended the four-race winning streak of the No. 20 Toyota that belongs to his full-time owner, Joe Gibbs. Denny Hamlin, who took a turn in the No. 20 on Saturday, finished second, followed by Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and polesitter Brian Vickers.
"Before the race, I said, hopefully we could have the Dollar General Toyota (Braun's car) come home in first place with him (Hamlin) the runner-up," Busch said.
He got his wish, but the real fireworks occurred between Hamlin and Keselowski under the final caution. Keselowski tapped Hamlin's Camry as the cars circled the track behind the pace car. Hamlin retaliated by turning right into Keselowski’s No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
"What the hell did he do that for?" asked Earnhardt, Keselowski's car owner, after the race. "Brad bumped him just a little bit under caution, and Denny knocked the fender off his car. Now the car’s all tore up."
As Busch celebrated his 15th win in the series, crews from the two teams engaged in an angry confrontation on pit road, as NASCAR officials tried to keep the teams apart.
Hamlin complained that Keselowski had repeatedly failed to give him racing room earlier in the event.
"Give a guy two inches to let him clear, and don’t just hang onto my rear quarter panel," said Hamlin, who made it clear that his retaliation was for the bump under caution, not for the way Keselowski had raced him. "You throw a rock, I'm going to throw a concrete block back."
Keselowski, a full-time NASCAR Nationwide Series driver, had a different perspective.
"I race one day a week, not two," he said. "I have 200 laps to prove myself, not 400. I have to make the most of every lap."
Committed to a fuel mileage strategy, Busch stayed out on old tires and inherited the lead, when the rest of the contending cars – with the exception of Greg Biffle’s No. 16 Ford – came to pits on Lap 163, after a wreck in Turn 3 involving Kelly Bires and Kasey Kahne caused the eighth caution of the race.
Two more quick cautions – one when Steve Wallace and Jason Leffler wreck in close quarters in Turn 4 and one for debris on Lap 181 – enabled Busch to save enough fuel to make it to the finish. But Busch still had to hold off the cars behind him.
With five laps left, Hamlin made a determined move to the inside of Busch's No. 32 Toyota, but Busch surged past his teammate from Joe Gibbs Racing and held him off until Josh Wise scraped the wall the bring out the 11th caution and set up the two-lap finishing dash.
Notes: Busch led 86 laps, the sixth time he's led the most laps in a NASCAR Nationwide Series event this year. … Keselowski's third-place finish was a career best. … Joe Gibbs Racing had won the previous six NASCAR Nationwide Series events, two by Busch in the No. 18 car, followed by four straight (Tony Stewart twice and Hamlin and Busch once each) in the No. 20. … Clint Bowyer finished sixth and saw his series points lead narrowed to 67 over second-place Busch.
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