Kyle Busch cruises to another Nationwide victory

Kyle Busch has struggled in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Kansas Speedway in recent years, but he continues to avoid similar struggles in other national touring series.

Busch, who hasn’t finished better than 10th in a Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway since 2006, notched a fifth consecutive finish inside the top six on Saturday with a victory in the Nationwide Series Kansas Lottery 300.

It was Busch’s second Nationwide win at Kansas Speedway (September 2007). He also won the Camping World Truck Series race here in May.

Busch led the final 21 laps, barreling past fellow Sprint Cup driver Kevin Harvick on lap 180 and cruising basically unchallenged to his series-leading sixth Nationwide won of the season.

He also extended his all-time Nationwide record with career victory No. 69 in the series, but the real benefit might not come until Sunday.

“It was really good out there to learn the things that we needed to learn to try to be better for tomorrow,” Busch said. “I did some things that hopefully we can transfer into tomorrow. We raced a guy that is probably going to win tomorrow (Harvick), so it was good to come out here and win this race.”

Harvick built a massive lead on pit strategy. He was the only driver on the lead lap when he hit pit row under caution on lap 146 and filled up on fuel during a 25.6-second stop, which allowed Harvick to get to the checkered flag.

Busch ran him down anyway.

“We just couldn’t hold it,” Harvick said. “The 54 was quite a better as we got going into the run. We could hold him off for a short run, but, in the end, his car would maintain speed and ours would slow down.”

Of course, settling for second doesn’t mean it was a wasted day for Harvick, who hopes a runner-up showing helps better prepare him for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race, the Hollywood Casino 400.

“There’s always something that you can pick up, whether it’s getting off pit road or seeing where the groove goes or what’s going on,” Harvick said. “There’s never a race that goes on where you don’t learn something or think about something.”

Busch and Harvick survived a wreck-filled 200 laps.

The yellow flag started waving early and was a constant nuisance until the final 40 laps — an ominous sign for Sunday’s race with faster cars and hotter track temperatures.

Eight of the race’s nine cautions, which totaled 42 laps, occurred in or around turn two.

“This track is really tricky,” said David Blaney, who finished third overall. “There is a lot of grip but it is easy to go over the limit and snap around. I think it is a combination of the tire and track. I almost lost it when we were behind Kyle in the middle of one and two. You get (aerodynamically) loose if you are close to somebody.”

The carnage started on the third lap when Venezuelan driver Milka Duno, who was making her NASCAR national touring series debut after failing to qualify for Nationwide races at Bristol and Dover earlier this season, got loose around the first bend and backed into the wall.

Barely 10 laps later, John Wes Townley spun out in essentially the same spot and, only six laps after going green again, David Starr got loose in turn two and rubbed the wall.

Ten of the first 26 laps were run under caution.

Debris in turn two wiped out laps 46 through 49 for the fourth caution, while the fifth caution came when Joey Gase’s right rear tire blew coming out of turn two.

Turn-two pins by Kyle Larson, Dakoda Armstrong and Jamie Dick also produced cautions.

This story was originally published October 4, 2014 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Kyle Busch cruises to another Nationwide victory."