LOUDON, N.H. — Kyle Busch spent most of his race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where he’s most familiar.
Out in front.
Busch won the Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire on Saturday and became the career laps-led leader in NASCAR’s second-tier series with 8,118.
Busch bowed to the crowd, which saluted his sixth victory of the season in the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch earned his 36th career victory and passed Mark Martin (Batesville) on the career laps led list (8,117).
“That’s pretty cool,” Busch said. “There’s one more record I’m after and that’s the win record. I want to try and beat him and see how many I can set.”
Busch is tied with Kevin Harvick for second on the career Nationwide victory list. Martin leads the series with 48.
Busch held off Brad Keselowski, who finished second and had his solid run derailed by a poor pit stop. Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne round out the top five.
Keselowski stretched his points lead to 247 over Edwards.
Busch left with a lengthy list of milestones. He won here last year and is the first driver to win multiple Nationwide Series races in the track’s 24-race history dating to its inaugural event on July 15, 1990.
“I’m proud of the fact wemade it happen and we had everything go right for us today,” Busch said.
Danica Patrick finished 30th, five laps down. Patrick tangled with Morgan Shepherd early and went into the wall only seven laps into the race. The IndyCar regular posted her best finish in four Nationwide races.
“It was a bummer to get lapped so many times,” Patrick said.
Patrick started 25th in her first NASCAR race since February and ran into trouble in her No. 7 Chevrolet almost instantly.
Shepherd got loose and sent Patrick into the wall. She radioed to her crew “he totally took me out.”
Patrick returned to the track a lap down and nevergot any momentum. She later tapped Shepherd to let him know she didn’t appreciate getting caught up in the early accident.
“I was thinking out there at the end that it reminds me a lot of my first couple of short oval races in an IndyCar,” she said. “I got lapped liked a ton of times in those. It’s part of the process, it’s part of learning and I know these things are going to happen.”
The 68-year-old Shepherd - 40 years older than Patrick - was apologetic.
“Anybody who tries to pass her needs to be patient. She’s got a very fast race car,” he said. “I hate that I got into her.”
Patrick fared no better than 31st in three starts in the Nationwide Series in February. She said a top-15 or top-20 finish would be a success. She returns to the series in two weeks at Chicagoland Speedway
“There’s a lot for me to learn,” she said.
NASCAR Nationwide NEW ENGLAND 200 At New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H.
Lap length: 1.058 miles (Start position in parentheses) 1. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 200 laps, 149.3 rating, $45,620.
2. (1) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 200, 128.5, $31,400.
3. (2) Carl Edwards, Ford, 200, 112.2, $27,775.
4. (7) Joey Logano, Toyota, 200, 120.4, $20,500.
5. (18) Trevor Bayne, Toyota, 200, 102.9, $28,868.
6. (5) Justin Allgaier, Dodge, 200, 106.3, $22,543.
7. (3) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 200, 115.3, $17,175.
8. (12) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 200, 102.7, $21,293.
9. (19) Paul Menard, Ford, 200, 93.2, $14,700.
10. (16) Brendan Gaughan, Toyota, 200, 83.6, $21,893.
11. (6) Steve Wallace, Toyota, 200, 93, $20,918.
12. (15) Colin Braun, Ford, 200, 82.2, $21,793.
13. (17) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 200, 93.8, $14,575.
14. (14) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 200, 84.5, $20,448.
15. (13) Jason Keller, Chevrolet, 200, 77.6, $21,918.
16. (10) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 200, 83.2, $20,393.
17. (9) Justin Lofton, Ford, 200, 84.4, $20,068.
18. (32) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 200, 74.9, $22,118.
19. (38) Michael Annett, Toyota, 200, 67, $19,868.
20. (11) Michael McDowell, Dodge, 199, 68.8, $20,618.
21. (28) Sean Caisse, Ford, 198, 64.5, $20,093.
22. (33) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, 197, 53.2, $13,225.
23. (24) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 197, 59.7, $20,043.
24. (34) Willie Allen, Chevrolet, 197, 53, $19,603.
25. (8) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 196, 81.3, $20,018.
26. (27) Brian Scott, Toyota, 196, 48.9, $19,533.
27. (41) Robert Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, 196, 43.5, $19,898.
28. (37) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 196, 48.9, $19,463.
29. (40) Eric McClure, Ford, 196, 45.3, $19,428.
30. (25) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 195, 39.6, $19,693.
31. (43) Charles Lewandoski, Ford, 195, 43.9, $12,890.
32. (31) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, axle, 181, 59.6, $19,323.
33. (26) Mark Green, Chevrolet, accident, 170, 37.6, $12,830.
34. (21) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, engine, 147, 65.1, $19,278.
35. (22) Tayler Malsam, Toyota, accident, 91, 56.9, $19,258.
36. (42) Brad Baker, Ford, brakes, 35, 33, $12,770.
37. (29) Danny O’Quinn Jr., Chevrolet, overheating, 25, 39.2, $12,750.
38. (23) David Gilliland, Chevrolet, brakes, 20, 38.2, $12,730.
39. (36) Brian Keselowski, Dodge, brakes, 9, 36.1, $12,710.
40. (39) Johnny Chapman, Chevrolet, brakes, 5, 33, $12,615.
41. (30) Josh Wise, Ford, electrical, 3, 33.9, $12,595.
42. (20) Kevin Swindell, Ford, handling, 3, 31.9, $12,575.
43. (35) Dennis Setzer, Dodge, ignition, 2, 31.3, $12,531.
Sports, Pages 36 on 06/27/2010