Catchfence

DOVER, Del. – Just when it appeared that Saturday’s “Heluva Good! 200” NASCAR Nationwide Series race was going to end quietly – by Dover International Speedway standards – things got very interesting.

Fortunately for Kyle Busch, his car was running fast enough to stay ahead of the mayhem and he was able to survive a green-white-checkered finish to win the “Heluva Good! 200.” The win made up for some recent bad luck that Busch has had at Dover, the most recent of which came on Friday in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.

“It was a really good race for us today,” Busch said. “We came out here and fine-tuned on the car a little bit yesterday, and came out with a great qualifying run. Our guys on pit road were unbeatable. They had great race stops. We just made fine adjustments to it on pit road, and it seemed to work out for us.”

Busch, who started on the pole and led 191 of the 205 laps, avenged a Friday NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race where he led 176 laps but finished 16th after vapor lock struck on a late restart and rendered him helpless. He also atoned for a similar situation in the same NASCAR Nationwide Series race a year ago, where he ran up front all day but got tangled up with teammate Joey Logano in the final laps which handed the race win over to Brad Keselowski.

“I was just trying to get to that white flag and couldn’t get there,” Busch said. “It seems like we can always find something in the last 10 laps to get a caution. But it is what it is. I knew we had a great race car… if we could just get through the restarts and not have someone turn me sideways, we’d be okay.”

Denny Hamlin led the first 11 laps, but then Busch took over and only relinquished the lead once, for three laps to Brad Keselowski during a pit stop on lap 36. The race hummed along like Busch’s car from that point, only experiencing four cautions – miniscule by Dover standards– up until Mark Green hit the wall in Turn 2 on lap 195.

Coming out of the restart on lap 198, Clint Bowyer, running in second place at the time, was hit from behind by Denny Hamlin. A pileup ensued, taking out several cars including Bowyer.

After an 11-minute red flag, Bowyer drove off pit road and cut Hamlin off under yellow, leaving the Hamlin pointing up towards the outside wall. Bowyer was subsequently parked by NASCAR and summoned to the hauler for a discussion. While Bowyer appeared to be in hot water, Ryan Newman, who finished second, was one of several drivers backing Bowyer.

“From my standpoint, [Hamlin] just never checked up,” Newman said after the race. “I hope that they don’t penalize Clint Bowyer because that’s what every driver wants to do. Nobody wants to hurt anybody, but when you take someone out of the race like that, [it’s frustrating.]”

Jamie McMurray drove from a 27th place starting position to finish third. Reed Sorenson and Jason Leffler rounded out the top-five.

Busch’s day started with a record qualifying run of 158.228 mph, which eclipsed the existing NASCAR Nationwide Series track record of 157.916 mph turned by David Green in June 2004. Hamlin qualified second and was in that spot before tangling late in the race with Bowyer. Hamlin finished 12th.

Great seats still remain for the Sunday, May 16 “Autism Speaks 400 presented by HERSHEY’S Milk & Milkshakes” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 1-800-441-RACE or visit DoverSpeedway.com.

Dover International Speedway is owned by Dover Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE: DVD), a leading promoter of motorsports events in the United States. DVD subsidiaries operate three tracks in three states, and present several hundred motorsports events each year. This includes 14 major, national events which include races sanctioned by NASCAR and the NHRA. Dover Motorsports, Inc. also owns and operates Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, Mo., and Nashville Superspeedway near Nashville, Tenn. For further information log on to DoverSpeedway.com.

- Dover International Speedway Press Release