Kyle Busch Dominates Emerson Radio City 250 For 2nd Busch Series Win This Season

[PressRoom-GFN]

RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 7, 2007) – Kyle Busch dominated Friday night's Emerson Radio City 250 at Richmond International Raceway, leading four times for 227 laps to win his second Busch Series race this season and the ninth of his career.

"We wouldn't want it any other way," said Busch, who finished second to Jeff Burton last weekend at California Speedway after surrendering the lead with seven laps remaining. "We had two great chances at Bristol (where we finished fourth) and California and didn't get it done. This is halfway payback, because we want the Cup Series (win on Saturday), too."

The 6-minute red flag and the two-lap dash to the finish held little concern for Busch. When the green flag waved for the final time, ending the eighth caution flag, Busch's Sta-Green/Lowe's Chevrolet easily pulled away from Carl Edwards, who found himself battling Ryan Newman for second. Busch crossed the finish line 0.868 second ahead of Edwards.

Newman, competing in his final Busch Series race this season, took third. Matt Kenseth, who stopped for four tires during the seventh caution period with 12 laps remaining and restarted 10th on lap 242, placed fourth. Rounding out the top five, respectively, were Mike Bliss, Brian Vickers, Denny Hamlin, Scott Wimmer, Kasey Kahne and Jason Keller.

In the driver point standings, Edwards possesses a 733-point advantage over Kevin Harvick, but thanks to Wimmer's eighth-place finish in the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevy, Childress retained the lead in the Busch Series owner standings over Roush Fenway, owner of Edwards' Ford, by 40 points.

In the race's middle stages, it appeared Kenseth, who led five laps at the event's beginning, might be able to dethrone Busch's powerful Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. On lap 143, he passed the younger Busch on the frontstretch and held the top position for the next 17 laps. However, on lap 160, Kenseth was at the wrong place at the wrong time. When Paul Menard's Chevrolet spun and hit the first-turn wall, Kenseth had to dive low to avoid Menard and his Arby's Ford spun, as well.

The incident cost Kenseth the lead, as Busch slipped between the two cars to retake the No. 1 position for good. Kenseth was forced to pit during the fourth caution period. That dropped him to sixth and ended his victory hopes.
"Kenseth had the car to beat today, and I knew that," Busch said. "But our car was right there with him. He got the lead from us a couple of times. Then he spun himself out over there with the lapped car."

Kenseth said the spin was unavoidable.

"The 15 [Menard] was so close to me I couldn't stop," Kenseth said, "so I had to turn the wheel a little bit, and my car was so loose it just spun out."
Busch maintained a comfortable lead on the second-place Edwards until A.J. Allmendinger's lap 236 spin. After the lap 242 restart, Busch built a 10-car length lead over Edwards before oil on the track from Derrike Cope's blown engine resulted in the final yellow flag and the red flag.