Kyle Busch Wins at Bristol
Before an estimated crowd of 110,000, Kyle Busch won the Sharpie Mini 300, posting his seventh NASCAR Busch Series victory. A heated battle for the win completed a race interrupted by snow in the NASCAR Busch Series Sharpie Mini 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday as Busch inherited the lead from Greg Biffle with 12 laps to go when Biffle’s Ford suffered a loose wheel. Busch withstood heavy pressure from Kevin Harvick to the finish, winning by 0.559 seconds. Harvick, the 2001 series champion and four-time race winner at Bristol including this event last year, nipped a surging Matt Kenseth in side-by-side battle for second. Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards completed the top five. The 20-year-old Busch's first career win at Bristol was his first since May of last season. Harvick, the series points leader, started from the pole as qualifying was set by owner points due to a wet track as a result of the initial snow storm of the day. He led the most laps in the event – 120 of the 300 on the high-banked, high-speed concrete half-mile – but briefly broke momentum when a window tear-off stuck to a tire during a pit stop on Lap 148. He restarted deep in the field, 33rd, a half-lap behind. Just 32 laps in, a second heavy snow began falling. During the 1 hour 19 minute stoppage, frigid feuding by funning crewmen developed on pit road as a number of snowball fights broke out. The temperature did not reach beyond the 30s during the race. In all, there were 13 caution periods consuming 80 laps. Busch’s late race pass of 2002 series champion Biffle for the lead was the ninth lead change of the race.
Busch Pole Qualifying Snowed Out at Bristol
Qualifying for the Sharpie Mini 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway has been canceled due to snow. Therefore the starting lineup for the NASCAR Busch Series race will be set according to the NASCAR rulebook. Kevin Harvick will start from the pole position thanks to the No. 21 car’s position atop the owner point standings.
