NASCAR Daily News Headlines * November 7, 2009

Ranger Wins Second Canadian Title

Ranger, who was one point shy of the title coming into the race, clinched the championship when the 27-car field took the green flag. It is the Roxton Pond, Que., native’s second series crown in three seasons having won it in the series’ inaugural season of 2007.

On the year, Ranger won a single season series-record six races—three ovals and three road courses. He also closed out the season with eight top fives, as well as, finishing inside the top 10 in each of the 13 races on the 2009 schedule.

The race, already postponed from Saturday evening, was halted after 204 laps due to a heavy rain shower.

Kennington was able to wrestle the lead away from Kerry Micks on Lap 183 before the final caution flag of the day waved at Lap 193 when Joey Hanssen and John Gaunt got tangled up in Turn 1. The rain began to fall at the 200-lap mark at which point NASCAR officials decided to end the race as more showers were on the way.

It was Kennington’s second victory of the season having won at Delaware (Ont.) Speedway on June 6.

Micks posted his second runner-up finish of the season and was followed by Don Thomson Jr. in third. Scott Steckly, the 2008 series champion, finished fourth with Ron Beauchamp Jr. coming home in fifth.

In the final point standings, Ranger finished 167 points ahead of both Kennington and Beauchamp, who both ended with the same point total, but Kennington gets the nod for second place due to his two wins on the season. Steckly wrapped up the season in fourth while Micks finished fifth.

As a touring series champion, Ranger earned a protected starting position in the prestigious NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown to be held on Jan. 29-30 at California’s Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. The seventh running of the event brings together the top racers from across North America for the “Daytona 500 of short-track racing.”

Next up for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series team is the NASCAR Touring Series Gala in Concord, N.C. on Saturday, Nov. 14 at which Ranger and the rest of the touring series champions will be honored.(nascar.com)

Busch Dominates In Texas Nationwide Race

Busch led six times for a race-high 179 laps en route to his 29th career Nationwide Series victory, his series-leading eighth of the season and his fourth consecutive at Texas. -- “We’ve been running well all year long and we’ve been able to capitalize on good runs," Busch continued. "This is one that we capitalized on. This is eight on the year. Unfortunately, we missed out on 11 others – those were second-place finishes. When you get to victory lane, it’s cool that you can get your team to victory lane and really celebrate with them because those are the guys that deserve to be here.”

The victory also helped Busch inch closer to his first Nationwide Series championship, which he can clinch next week by finishing 15th or better at Phoenix International Raceway. Busch owns a commanding 272-point lead over second-place Carl Edwards and an incredible 1,025-point advantage over fourth-place Jason Leffler. -- “It’s pretty cool,” said Busch, who has never won a championship in any of NASCAR’s top-three divisions. “It feels awesome. It’s all in these guys and what they do and the hours they spend. Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) reading the books, reading the computer and looking over all the notes. A lot of the guys on this team have worked really hard and deserve it. The ‘20’ team won the owner’s championship last year and now that the ‘18’ team is heading toward a championship, it shows the whole JGR team is championship worthy.”

For the 28th time in his young career, Busch is competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races in the same weekend. With his victory Friday night in the Camping World Truck Series race at Texas, coupled with his Nationwide Series victory on Saturday, Busch will look to make history in Sunday’s Dickies 500 Sprint Cup Series race by becoming the first drive to ever win all three races in one weekend. -- “I hope it happens. It would be awesome and it’s never been done before,” Busch said. “The last one is always the hardest, and that’s because it’s the biggest and hardest show to win. We’ll see if we can get it. The closest I’ve come was first, first and third earlier this year at California.”

Finishing second to Busch by 3.154 seconds was Casey Mears, while Leffler, Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five. Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, David Ragan, Edwards and Mike Bliss comprised the remainder of the top-10. The race featured seven caution periods for 34 laps, with 21 drivers failing to finish the 200-lap event. -- The next event on the Nationwide Series schedule is the Nov. 14 Able Body Labor 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. The penultimate race starts at 4:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by ESPN2 beginning with its pre-race show at 4 p.m.
For Final Results...     O'Reilly Challenge Final Results
Point Standings...     Point Standings After O'Reilly Challenge

Kyle Busch Wins Fifth Straight Truck Race

The victory was Busch's seventh in 13 starts this season, the 16th of his career and his first at the 1.5-mile track. Matt Crafton ran second, .995 seconds behind Busch at the finish. Ron Hornaday Jr. came home third and left Texas with a 197-point lead over second-place Crafton in the series standings. Hornaday can wrap up the series championship with finishes of 22nd or better in the final two events.

Todd Bodine ran fourth and Colin Braun fifth.

"It's an accomplishment to beat the 33 bunch (Hornaday) here, that's for sure," Busch said. "And we got it done today. I really hate to see the 88 (Crafton) finish second to me. I wish he could get a win."

Crafton acknowledged it would be difficult to pick up the second victory of his career and his first of the year as long as Busch keeps entering races.

"I'm going to lock him in his motorhome and take him out of the equation," Crafton joked.

Busch passed Hornaday for the lead on Lap 98 after bumping Hornaday's No. 33 Chevrolet on the backstretch. As Busch pulled away, Hornaday told crew chief Rick Ren to tell the No. 51 team that Talladega (where bump-drafting is commonplace) was last week.

By Lap 114, Crafton had passed Hornaday for the second position, as Hornaday fought a loose handling condition in his race truck. Crafton gradually closed on Busch, but the driver of the No. 51 Tundra maintained a lead of close to one second over his pursuer for the final 30 laps, as Crafton tried to save fuel in his No. 88 Chevrolet.

Busch, who has won the last three NASCAR Nationwide Series races at Texas, will try for the second leg of a possible weekend triple in the O'Reilly Challenge race on Saturday. He'll start sixth. On Sunday, Busch starts fifth in the Dickies 500, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.