Kyle Busch Wins Again at Lowe’s Motor Speedway

Kyle Busch

Concord, N.C. -- Kyle Busch picked up right where he left off a year ago while Jimmie Johnson didn’t have nearly as much fun as he would have liked on Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

When we saw the 19-year-old Busch at LMS last May, he was standing on top of the No. 5 Lowe’s Chevrolet after doing donuts celebrating his Busch Series victory.

Twelve months later he repeated the scene at LMS, minutes after holding off Sterling Marlin by .503 seconds for his sixth career Busch Series win.

“That was awesome,” said Busch, who joins Tim Richmond, Mark Martin and Jeff Green as the only back-to-back winners in the May LMS Busch race.

“I wasn’t happy with the car at the beginning of the race, but the boys pulled through with some changes and I really wanted to give them a trip to Victory Lane.”

As Kyle said, Saturday night’s race didn’t begin to well.

He started 19th and didn’t move forward as fast as he hoped. Then it got worse.

On the first caution at lap 16, NASCAR penalized Kyle for speeding on pit lane, sending him to the end of the line.

Then things got much better.

Kyle started climbing through the field before eventually grabbing the lead, surrendering it only when he came in for new tires.

Busch led 62 of the 200 laps on his way to his first Busch Series victory of the 2005 season. He kept the lead despite four of the race’s 11 cautions falling in the last 30 laps.

Busch is on a roll, as the youngster also won the Craftsman Truck Series race at LMS last weekend.

“I love Lowe’s Motor Speedway,” Busch said.

Ryan Newman finished third, Greg Biffle fourth and Reed Sorenson rounded out the top-five.

No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson didn’t have as much fun as Kyle Busch on Saturday night.

Johnson started 26th and struggled at the beginning of the race.

He pitted on the first caution and made some major changes to improve the handling. Things didn’t improve and he fell a lap down to the leaders.

Kasey Kahne’s accident a few laps later brought out the yellow and Johnson earned the “lucky dog” pass back on to the lead lap.

The night didn’t get any better.

Johnson stayed near the back of the field battling a car that wouldn’t turn, so he returned to pit road under caution and the Lowe’s crew lifted the hood.

During the stop the crew made major chassis changes, adding rounds of wedge, spring rubbers and camber.

A few laps later, Johnson spun out in oil that had been left on the track by another competitor, and Johnson lost another lap. He soldiered on, eventually making up the lost lap, but was only able to manage a 30th-place finish.

Both Johnson and Busch will see action in the Busch Series next weekend, when the series travels to Dover International Speedway. At “The Monster Mile,” it will be Johnson behind the wheel of the No. 5 Lowe’s / Shop Vac Chevrolet, while Busch will pilot the No. 57 Shop Vac Chevrolet in that event.