Kyle Busch scored his third Nationwide Series win of the year in the Lipton Tea 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
The Joe Gibbs racer made the most of a restart with 22 laps remaining when he overtook Carl Edwards for the lead driving on the outside of the Roush Fenway driver. Despite another two caution periods before the end, Busch was unbeatable on cold tires, keeping Edwards at bay until the checkered flag.
"You've just got to keep digging," Busch said about the pass on Edwards, which effectively earned him his 24th Nationwide Series win, allowing him to increase his lead in the drivers' standing to 82 points over Edwards.
"We're in championship form. We can't falter like I did in the beginning of the year, like the team did at the beginning of the year. Just smooth nights like tonight when nothing goes wrong it's kind of picture perfect, just scripted."
Edwards admitted defeat even if he had a car that was capable of winning the race, as he kept Busch behind him earlier in the race, leading it for 71 laps. He said there was nothing he could do to prevent his rival from passing him on the late restart.
"It's simple, he smokes me on the restarts," Edwards admitted. "I did everything I could. That car that he's got there goes really good on those restarts and I could probably do a little bit better job but I did the best I could on that last [restart] and I couldn't get near him, so my hats off to those guys."
Polesitter Matt Kenseth came back from his scary flip at Talladega to finish the race in a strong third place. Although he was only able to lead the race for two laps, he was a top contender for most of the night.
Fresh from his first Sprint Cup win at Talladega, Brad Keselowski moved up in the closing stages of the race to finish fourth although not without some contact. While fighting for position and racing with a pushed-in front fender he made contact with the left-rear of Jason Leffler's car, sending him into a spin and igniting a multi-car incident that saw Jeff Burton and Brian Scott involved.
Kevin Harvick took advantage of fresher rubber than some of his rivals to finish fifth in the end, having pitted for tyres when the caution came out with 39 laps remaining. Joey Logano finished sixth behind him, running a similar tyre strategy.
Mark Martin had a quiet night driving the #5 car for JR Motorsports but still was able to get a solid seventh place finish, ahead of Michael McDowell who slid from fourth on the final restart down to eighth, Jason Keller and Leffler. Only the top ten cars finished on the lead lap.
Mike Bliss, driving for Phoenix Racing, was a frontrunner early in the race leading for 61 laps. He was running fourth in the closing stages but was forced to a lengthy pitstop due to a broken track bar on his car.
RESULTS:
Pos Driver Car Laps
1. Kyle Busch Toyota 250
2. Carl Edwards Ford 250
3. Matt Kenseth Ford 250
4. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 250
5. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 250
6. Joey Logano Toyota 250
7. Mark Martin Chevrolet 250
8. Michael McDowell Toyota 250
9. Jason Keller Ford 250
10. Jason Leffler Toyota 250
11. Steve Wallace Chevrolet 249
12. Erik Darnell Ford 249
13. Shelby Howard Chevrolet 249
14. David Green Toyota 249
15. Tony Raines Chevrolet 249
16. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 249
17. Scott Lagasse Jr Toyota 248
18. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 248
19. Peyton Sellers Chevrolet 248
20. Danny O'Quinn Jr Chevrolet 248
21. Brian Keselowski Dodge 248
22. Derrike Cope Dodge 248
23. Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 247
24. D.J. Kennington Dodge 247
25. Casey Atwood Chevrolet 247
26. Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 246
27. Scott Speed Toyota 246
28. Burney Lamar Toyota 246
29. Marc Davis Toyota 244
30. Brandon Whitt Ford 237
31. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 233
32. Brian Scott Toyota 232
33. Mike Bliss Chevrolet 229
34. Michael Annett Toyota 219
35. Ken Butler III Chevrolet 216
36. Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 200
37. Benny Gordon Ford 157
38. Justin Allgaier Dodge 140
39. Eric McClure Ford 82
40. Mark Green Chevrolet 30
41. Terry Cook Chevrolet 24
42. Kertus Davis Chevrolet 22
43. Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 12