Kyle Busch started on the pole. It was his sixth NNS pole of the season. The race went green and Busch immediately jumped out to the lead and was able to lead the first lap. Early in the race, we found out what the race would be like. Brian Scott, who was running near the front, hit the wall in turn 3 while Kyle Larson hit the wall in turn 2. Both drivers continued on, but it was obvious the wall would take a lot of prisoners. The race went a short while before the first contender had trouble. Alex Bowman came down pit road on lap 34. He had made contact with the wall, but he pitted due to an even more severe problem. His car was shutting off during the race and the team decided to change the carburetor. This put him a lot of laps down and he did not have a chance for a good finish. This led to the first caution of the race on lap 65. Debris was spotted on the track in turn 2. Drew Herring received the lucky dog. This is where strategy became a part in the race. Most of the lead lap drivers decided to pit for four tires and fuel while Kyle Busch, the leader, decided to stay on track. It would be interesting to see if this move paid off for him.
The race went back green and Kyle Busch was able to jump out ahead of the drivers who pitted. The race continued on until the second caution on lap 106. Nelson Piquet Jr. got loose in turn 3 and went for a slide. He went down the track and almost clipped Elliott Sadler, but both drivers got away from near disaster. Piquet was able to get back going after he righted his car. Drew Herring received the lucky dog. More strategy was used during this caution flag. Kyle Larson decided to stay out with Trevor Bayne and Brian Scott taking two tires and the rest of the lead lap drivers taking four tires. This gave Kyle Larson the lead on the restart. The race went back green and Larson immediately jumped out to the lead. It seemed like he could hold it, but Kyle Busch was coming. On lap 129, Kyle Busch got to Larson and made a daring pass. The two leaders went three wide with Reed Sorenson crossing the line and somehow, Busch made contact with Sorenson and didn't hit the wall. The amazing thing was that he took the lead while making this move. A few laps later, an championship and race contender would have trouble.
On lap 131, Regan Smith came to pit road. Since the restart, he had reported a vibration on his car and it got to where he could not handle it. The team replaced all four tires and found out that a wheel had cracked and caused the vibration. This unscheduled stop left Smith a few laps down and without a chance to get back in contention. This led to the third caution of the race on lap 153. Mike Bliss and Drew Herring made contact on the backstretch. This caused Herring to spin and slam hard into the inside wall. His car went back up the track, but he was not hit by any other drivers. His car was destroyed and he was forced to get out and take the mandatory ride to the infield care center. Before he would do this, he would express his displeasure. As Mike Bliss came by, Herring pointed his finger at him and pointed towards the infield where they would talk about it later. The situation did not result in a fight, but Herring was not happy. No drivers received the lucky dog. A final bit of strategy happened during this caution. Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, and Justin Allgaier stayed on track while the rest of the lead lap drivers pitted for four tires. The race went back green and Kyle Busch once again jumped out to the lead. It was an interesting restart as Regan Smith went high and got into the wall. He was running real slow on track and drivers were going three wide past him. As they were doing this, Jeremy Clements got loose and made slight contact with the wall, but was able to continue on. At the same time, the fourth and final caution came out on lap 167. Brian Vickers went up the track and hit the wall in turn 4. He slid down the track and clipped Parker Kligerman. Kligerman slammed the outside wall and then hit the inside wall while Vickers stopped next to the inside wall. Both cars were destroyed, but Vickers would get out a little later even though he had no chance for a good finish. Elliott Sadler received the lucky dog. A final bit of strategy was used during this caution. Justin Allgaier and Kasey Kahne stopped with Elliott Sadler. This would be the last restart of the race and it would be interesting to see who jumped out to the lead.
The race went back green for the final time and Kyle Busch got away from the field with Brad Keselowski behind him. As the race progressed, Busch entered lap traffic and Keselowski came very close to Busch. When he got close, he slipped up a little bit and Busch was able to get away once again. The drivers behind them were still beating and banging. The caution would not wave again and Kyle Busch cruised to the win. He did his new style of burnout with his body hanging outside of the car. It was a big win for Busch as he had won the Truck Series race on Wednesday and will look to sweep the weekend.
What can you say about Kyle Busch. If he starts out front, he is going to win the race. Usually, he does that in really dominating fashion and this race was no different. The main story line after the race was the amount of championship contenders who had trouble. Regan Smith fell back after a cracked wheel, Brian Vickers wrecked late in the race, Elliott Sadler started way back and didn't move up well, and Sam Hornish Jr. was running on seven cylinders for most of the race. The only two drivers who had decent days were Justin Allgaier and Austin Dillon. Even through all that, Sam Hornish Jr. was able to hold onto his points lead. Plus, the Owners Points battle heated up again. The #54 team moved within sixteen points of the #22 team. If Kyle Busch wins a couple more races, the owners points championship could be his. The series two points battles should heat up as the series heads to the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Will Kyle Busch go back to back, will Brad Keselowski return to victory lane in the #22, or will a points contender solidify his name as the leader? We will have to find out next Saturday night.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 65- Debris was spotted on the track in turn 2.
2nd Caution: Lap 106- Nelson Piquet Jr. got loose in turn 3 and went for a slide down the track. He did not hit the wall or any other cars.
3rd Caution: Lap 153- Mike Bliss and Drew Herring made contact on the backstretch which caused Herring to slide down the track and slam the inside wall.
4th Caution: Lap 167- Brian Vickers went up the track and made contact with the wall in turn 4. He slid down track and clipped Parker Kligerman causing him to slam the outside wall.
Lucky Dogs:
1st Caution: Drew Herring
2nd Caution: Drew Herring
3rd Caution: None
4th Caution: Elliott Sadler
Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Kyle Busch
2nd: Brad Keselowski
3rd: Austin Dillon
4th: Justin Allgaier
5th: Kyle Larson
Notables Not in Top 5:
8th: Kasey Kahne
10th: Elliott Sadler
12th: Travis Pastrana
13th: Sam Hornish Jr.
21st: Regan Smith
33rd: Alex Bowman
34th: Brian Vickers
35th: Parker Kligerman
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nationwide-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-live.html
http://racing-reference.info/race/2013_Food_City_250/B
-Image:
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/43542b05a66c205b0c60b93c0d6024827552012d/ttl=120&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/USATODAY/test/2013/08/23/1377309471000-082313-kyle-busch.jpg
