Arizona.Travel 200 - Phoenix International Raceway

Busch Wins Second Straight Race at Phoenix
Kyle Busch held off Matt Kenseth by .305 seconds in a green-white-checkered finish that took the Arizona.Travel 200 NASCAR Busch Series race three laps beyond its posted distance Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway. The victory, coupled with his Craftsman Truck Series win at Phoenix on Friday night, put Busch in position to record an unprecedented triple in Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 Nextel Cup event -- winning a race in each of NASCAR's top three national series at the same track on the same weekend. In his final Busch Series start for Hendrick Motorsports, Busch led all but one of the last 116 laps (132 overall), collected his fourth win of the year and his 11th in the series. Despite problems with his power steering, Kenseth posted his seventh runner-up finish of the season. Balky power steering wasn't Kenseth's only problem. The right rear quarter panel of his No. 17 Ford was found to be too high during post-race inspection. If any penalties are forthcoming, NASCAR will announce them during the coming week. Polesitter Clint Bowyer was third, and Scott Wimmer ran fourth in the No. 29 Chevrolet, failing by two points to clinch the owners' championship for Richard Childress Racing. With a 194-point lead over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy, Jeff Burton, who will drive the No. 29 next week in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, can clinch the owners' title for Childress simply by starting the race. Though he will start 38th in Sunday's Cup race, Busch believes he has a chance to complete the weekend sweep. "It would mean the most," said Busch, who was scheduled to fly to Las Vegas after Saturday's race to compete in a 140-lap late model stock car race in his hometown. "It would be a great honor to have that. I wouldn't have it any other way, but it's a hard race with the COT (Car of Tomorrow), so you've got to be able to get out front. You've got to have a good enough car, and you've got to get track position." Saturday's race was red-flagged for the second time on Lap 198 because of a violent frontstretch crash involving David Ragan, Richard Johns, Stanton Barrett and Dario Franchitti. After an 11-minute stoppage, Busch took the green flag for the green-white-checkered finish. Busch took the lead for the third time on Lap 85 when he powered the No. 5 Chevrolet beneath Kenseth in Turn 1. That pass took place during a green-flag run that began on Lap 49 and ended with a debris caution on Lap 116. (Kenseth led Lap 117 on pit road, but Busch was out first to retake the lead, which he held for the rest of the race. Though Kenseth harried Busch over a subsequent 19-lap green-flag run, Busch held off the Roush Fenway driver for the remainder of the race.

Arizona.Travel 200 Notes

· Race Results · Ford Post-Race Quotes · Toyota Post-Race Quotes · Rookie Post-Race Quotes · Point Standings · Owner Point Standings · WIX Filters Lap Leader Notes · Starting Lineup · Qualifying Results · Final Practice · Practice 2: Rookie Practice · Practice 1 · Ford Friday Quotes · Rookie Friday Quotes · Qualifying Order · Entry List · Weekend Schedule · Raybestos Rookie Notes · Dario Franchitti Notes · Sam Hornish Jr. Notes · Brian Vickers Notes

· Carl Edwards Notes · Jason Leffler Notes · Kevin Harvick Notes · David Ragan Notes · Greg Biffle Notes · Marcos Ambrose Notes · Matt Kenseth Notes · Clint Bowyer Notes · Scott Wimmer Notes · Kyle Busch Notes · Jamie McMurray Notes · Brad Keselowski Notes · Kasey Kahne Notes · Eric McClure Notes · Kelly Bires Notes · Tony Raines Notes · Ron Hornaday Notes · Landon Cassill Notes · A.J. Allmendinger Notes · John Graham Notes

Clint Bowyer Speeds to Busch Pole at PIR
Clint Bowyer won the pole position for today's Arizonza.Travel 200, lapping the Phoenix International Raceway in 27.077 seconds, at an average speed of 132.954 mph, to capture his sixth Busch Pole in 108 career NASCAR Busch Series starts. This is Bowyer’s first pole position and 11th top-10 start in 21 Busch Series races in 2007. This is Bowyer’s second top-10 start in six races at Phoenix – both this season and both front-row. He started second en route to his victory here in the spring race earlier this season. Scott Wimmer, driving the No. 29 car that is atop the owner point standings, posted the second-fastest lap with his seventh top-10 start in 23 races this season, his fourth on the front-row. It is his second top-10 start in six Phoenix races. Kasey Kahne will start third after posting his sixth top-10 start in 17 races this season and his third top-10 start in five races at Phoenix. Brad Coleman (11th) was the fastest qualifying rookie while Todd Sousa (36th) qualified for his second career NASCAR Busch Series race and his first on an oval track. Sousa started 38th and finished 23rd at Mexico City earlier this season.