Catchfence

With four races into the 2011 NSCS season, Kyle Busch became the fourth different winner as he wins the Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, and sweeps the race weekend (also won Saturday’s NNS race).

Busch (who led 153 laps of the 500 laps that were run) received his 1st series win of the 2011 season, his 20th series career win, and his 5th series win in “Thunder Valley” (Busch is now tied with Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch with the most NSCS Bristol wins among active drivers).

Following Busch (who’s last NSCS win came 15 races ago last August at Bristol) to the drop of the checkered flag (by 0.946 seconds) was pole sitter Carl Edwards finishing in second, Jimmie Johnson third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Paul Menard finishing in the fifth position.

Rounding out the top-ten finishers were Kevin Harvick finishing in the sixth position, Kurt Busch seventh, outside pole sitter Greg Biffle eighth, Kasey Kahne ninth and Ryan Newman finishing in the tenth position.

Kurt Busch, who is the only driver to have finished in the top-10 in the four races that have been run so far, heads to the next race (at Auto Club Speedway) as the points leader, with a one point lead ahead of Carl Edwards.

RACE NOTES:

Average Speed: 91.941 MPH
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 53 Mins, 55 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.946 Seconds
Lead Changes: 17 among 8 drivers
Cautions: 10 for 57 laps
Attendance: 120,000

Unofficial Top-12 in the Point Standings: 1. Kurt Busch – 150; 2. Carl Edwards – 149 (-1 Points Behind the Leader) 3. Tony Stewart – 138 (-12) 4. Ryan Newman – 138 (-12) 5. Paul Menard -136 (-14) 6. Kyle Busch – 133 (-17) 7. Jimmie Johnson – 130 (-20) 8. Juan Pablo Montoya – 126 (-24) 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 124 (-26) 10. Martin Truex Jr. – 123 (-27) 11. Mark Martin – 123 (-27) 12. Kasey Kahne -122 (-28).

Next Up: The Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 27th at 3:00 PM (EST) on FOX.

2011 NSCS Jeff Byrd 500 Race Results

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Lap	Pts	BPts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	12	18	Kyle Busch	M&M's Toyota	500	47	4	Running	7	153
2	1	99	Carl Edwards	Scotts Ford	500	43	1	Running	2	18
3	6	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet	500	43	2	Running	4	164
4	11	17	Matt Kenseth	Crown Royal Black Ford	500	40		Running
5	4	27	Paul Menard	CertainTeed / Menards Chevrolet	500	40	1	Running	1	35
6	15	29	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Chevrolet	500	39	1	Running	1	37
7	20	22	Kurt Busch	Shell / Pennzoil Dodge	500	37		Running
8	2	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	500	36		Running
9	10	4	Kasey Kahne	Red Bull Toyota	500	35		Running
10	21	39	Ryan Newman	Tornados Chevrolet	500	35	1	Running	1	26
11	22	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet	500	33		Running
12	9	5	Mark Martin	GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	500	32		Running
13	16	47	Bobby Labonte	Bush's Baked Beans Toyota	500	31		Running
14	7	24	Jeff Gordon	Pepsi MAX Chevrolet	500	30		Running
15	14	9	Marcos Ambrose	DeWALT Ford	500	29		Running
16	5	6	David Ragan	UPS Ford	500	28		Running
17	8	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	500	28	1	Running	1	63
18	23	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Dodge	500	26		Running
19	13	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot / Mobil 1 Chevrolet	500	25		Running
20	17	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevrolet	498	24		Running
21	24	1	Jamie McMurray	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet	498	23		Running
22	3	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet	498	22		Running
23	18	20	Joey Logano	The Home Depot Toyota	497	21		Running
24	36	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	497	20		Running
25	37	36	Dave Blaney	Accell Construction Chevrolet	497	19		Running
26	35	38	Travis Kvapil(i)	Long John Silver's Ford	496	0		Running
27	29	34	David Gilliland	TMone / Taco Bell Ford	495	18	1	Running	1	4
28	41	37	Tony Raines	Front Row Motorsports Ford	494	16		Running
29	31	9	Bill Elliott	Thank a Teacher / Security Benefits Chevrolet	493	15		Running
30	26	0	David Reutimann	Aaron's Toyota	493	14		Running
31	28	43	A J Allmendinger	Best Buy Ford	493	13		Running
32	42	71	Andy Lally #	Eco-Fuel Saver Chevrolet	491	12		Running
33	25	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	488	11		Running
34	19	21	Trevor Bayne(i)	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford	482	0		Running
35	27	33	Clint Bowyer	BB&T Chevrolet	456	9		Engine
36	30	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	441	8		Running
37	43	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Toyota	427	7		Running
38	40	92	Dennis Setzer	K-Automotive Dodge	336	6		Suspension
39	33	7	Robby Gordon	Speed Energy / Food City Dodge	127	5		Accident
40	38	46	J J Yeley	Red Line Chevrolet	97	4		Brakes
41	34	87	Joe Nemechek(i)	NEMCO Motorsports Toyota	72	0		Brakes
42	32	60	Landon Cassill(i)	Big Red Toyota	36	0		Brakes
43	39	66	Michael McDowell	HP Racing LLC Toyota	35	1		Brakes

(i) Ineligible for Points in this Series
# Denotes Rookie