Kyle Busch scored his second Nationwide Series victory of the season by dominating the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch led from pole position and looked unchallenged for most of the distance, only conceding the lead temporarily to make a pitstop. He quickly regained control of the race however and eventually led for 178 of the scheduled 200 laps.
Until the last few laps of the race, Busch had faced a challenge from a charging Brad Keselowski, who started from the back of the field following a crash during qualifying. But a late caution with seven laps remaining cut Keselowski’s momentum as he came under attack from Joey Logano on the final restart.
Logano would later make contact with Carl Edwards, putting both of them against the wall and out of contention for victory.
While that happened, Busch drove off in to the distance to score his third consecutive Nationwide series win at Texas Motor Speedway.
"It was for sure a phenomenal racecar that helped me do that," said Busch. "This is pretty special. I wasn't sure about how good our car was because of the wind playing havoc for us on Thursday. But we qualified on pole and we beat history because we won from pole here today.
"(Jeff) Burton and I were going to have one heck of a show there and his car would get a little bit tight after about 35 laps and ours would just stay the same the whole time. We were so loose today and we finally got it tightened up there at the end and that was pretty cool.
"Keselowski and myself there we were going to have one wheel of a show as well without that final caution there."
Tony Stewart, making only his second Nationwide start of the season - driving for Kevin Harvick's team – benefited from Logano's incident with Edwards to move up to third and then second place after overtaking Keselowski.
Stewart led the race at one point, beating Busch out of pit road under caution, but he was only able to hold on to the top spot for five laps. In the end, having taken on fresh rubber, he was in a position to pose a stronger challenge but he just ran out of time to catch his former Sprint Cup team-mate.
Burton also led the race for sixteen laps but handling issues prevented him from finishing better than eighth.
Despite finishing third, Keselowski still had reason for joy. In the early going it didn't look like he would be able to challenge at the front, as he was a lap down on Busch at one point. He got the free pass during a caution and then climbed in the order to have a go at Busch in the closing stages.
"This was my back up car because I wrecked my primary car in qualifying and [the mechanics] stayed overnight Saturday and got me a car that was just as good if not better," said Keselowski. "This is what we needed to get our momentum going."
David Ragan and Paul Menard rounded up the top five, while Logano could only manage twelfth after his incident with Edwards. The Roush Fenway driver finished eighteenth in the end, two laps down and somewhat disappointed with Logano's move, which ruined both their races just a handful of laps from the chequered flag.
"I had a run on the outside of [Logano], I got my nose up there and I don't think his spotter told him or he just decided to block at the last moment and it was too late," said Edwards. "He came across the hood and got me into the wall and got himself into the wall. But I mean, it's racing. Six more inches and it would've been fine but it's just frustrating."
Logano later admitted blame for the incident, which cost Edwards most of his points lead in the championship race. Kyle Busch is now second only 38 points behind him.
Results to follow.
Kyle Busch scored his second Nationwide Series victory of the season by dominating the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Busch led from pole position and looked unchallenged for most of the distance, only conceding the lead temporarily to make a pitstop