March 2, 2009
By Ron Felix
His English teacher at a local High School where he grew up, once admitted that he didn't think Kyle Busch would amount to much, "because all he wanted to do was race."
It wasn't determined whether his former teacher was in attendance at the event, but if he were, he had to proud of what Busch has been able to accomplish in the few short years getting to this point.
CIA Stock Photo
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Kyle Busch Wins Hometown Race
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Busch drove from the rear for the field to win Sunday's Shelby 427 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Busch had won the pole but went to the rear on the start because of an engine change. NASCAR rules state that if a team changes an engine after qualifying they must fall to the rear of the field at the beginning of the race.
So Busch was credited with winning from the pole (never done at Las Vegas Motor Speedway) when in reality, he came from the back to win. It was his 13th Series victory in 153 career races. Busch was so happy that he jumped out of his car, took the checkered flag and then kissed the track at the start finish line.
"I decided to kiss the ground that this place was built on," Busch said. "I didn't know exactly what it would mean, but coming to the checkered flag there were knots in my stomach. The last 25 of 30 laps I was as nervous as I could be."
Kurt Busch, Kyle's older brother, was the first to Victory Lane along with their Mom Gaye -- they were all in tears sharing the joy of Kyle's biggest win.
"It's as big as the Daytona 500. I said it wouldn't be, but it is," Busch said. "I don't know if it has set in or not that I've won here but it feels pretty good. It's awesome, man. This is just the feeling of a lifetime."
Busch led three times for 51 laps. He averaged 119.51 mph in a race that took three hours, 34 minutes and 40 seconds to complete.
Clint Bowyer passed teammate Jeff Burton on the final lap for second place, with Burton nailing down third.
"Yeah, you know it was a wild day. We went a lap down, got that back," said Bowyer. "I think (Juan Pablo) Montoya run into me, knocked the right rear end and we got that fixed and got back up there. Give credit where credit is due. Shane Wilson (crew chief), that is where he shines. He studies his pit strategy and things for these races really hard and it paid off for us. That is what you gotta to do. You gotta keep diggin'."
David Reutimann was fourth with his best career run and Bobby Labonte finished fifth.
Jeff Gordon, who took over the Sprint Cup point standings lead with a sixth place run, was followed by Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to round out the top ten.
Earnhardt's race was like day and night.
“Well, we had a great car. We had a little bit of a tight issue we worked on all day and we got it pretty good and then the last 45 minutes this place changed so much," Earnhardt said. "The sun went down and the temperature changed 20 degrees and the track was in the shade and we got real tight. We didn’t have enough to really go after it in the end. But we gained on it. We ran good all day. We just seemed like we kept either put ourselves behind.
"I sped on pit road and we got caught on pit road during the flat tire with the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) and we were fighting it all day.”
Joey Logano scored a 13th-place finish and took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the second time in three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season. This is the best finish by a Raybestos Rookie in three races in 2009.
“Yeah, that was really good," said a smiling Logano. "We just kept our nose clean the whole day, kept it out of the wrecks, just kind of stayed with the main plan and that was finish. We were able to make adjustments during the race. We were good the first run and seemed like we went one way and go back the other way and we finally got it right with a couple of pit stops left. I was like don’t touch it any more. We got it close so I said nah, I’ll try to figure it out from here. Everyone did a great job. The whole team did great all day and you can’t ask for anything better than that.”
Unofficially Logano leads Scott Speed by one point (32-31) in the overall Raybestos Rookie standings. Logano led the Shelby 427 once for one lap. This is the first time in six career starts that Logano has led a Sprint Cup race and he becomes the first Raybestos Rookie to lead a lap this season.
Matt Kenseth, who was going for three straight wins was bitterly disappointed, only six laps into the race, his engine erupted in a plume of smoke.
“I think it had some kind of valvetrain issue. That’s basically what it sounded like, so I don’t know," Kenseth said. "Something busted in there. It’s disappointing, we didn’t get to race today, but those guys do a great job on engines. Doug Yates and those guys, without their horsepower, we couldn’t win races like last week, so I can’t really complain about those guys. It’s just something that happens every now and again and it’s just unfortunate it happened to us today.”
There were numerous blown engines. Mark Martin was one of the drivers who suffered engine problems.
“I hate it, I sure would have liked to (have) kept racing today," said Martin, who is expected to battle for a championship. "We had a good race car. And we were getting better. And we’re learning each week. We’ll have to get ‘em next week."
The event was slowed by 14 cautions for 66 laps and featured 16 lead changes among 12 drivers.
The next race on the Sprint Cup schedule – the fourth event of 36-races for the 2009 Sprint Cup Championship. The Kobalt Tools 500 will be on March 8th, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The race begins at approximately 1:30 p.m. eastern time with live, high-definition coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m. eastern time.
The race will also be broadcast live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 128 and PRN radio.
For full final race results...
(Insider Racing News)
For top-40 Sprint Cup drivers points...
(Insider Racing News)
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