Kenseth Steals One

He came into the Nicorette 300 first in the Sprint Cup Series standings, first in the Craftsman Truck Series Standings, and second in the Nationwide Series Standings – just 42 points behind series leader Tony Stewart, who was not racing in the event. And, after leading 153 of the first 170 laps, it appeared evident that Kyle Busch would end Saturday’s Nationwide Series race as the first driver ever to lead all three of NASCAR’s main series’ at the same time, but it just wasn’t meant to be. With just 25 laps remaining, Busch blew a right-front tire in turn 1, thus ending his dominant run and opening the door for Matt Kenseth to steal the win.

Kenseth had assumed command of the race on lap-186 from Jeff Burton, and on lap-189, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Eric McClure made contact, sparking a multi-car crash. Kenseth led Kevin Harvick to the green flag restart on lap 192, but NASCAR officials spotted debris from the no. 6 car of David Ragan, drawing another caution and setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Kenseth was able to hold off Harvick in the 2-lap shootout to pickup the checkered flag, with Harvick finishing second. Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, and Bobby LaBonte rounded out the top-five, resulting in a top-five field full of Sprint Cup Series regulars.

The second place finish moved 2006 Series Champion Kevin Harvick into the points lead, just 25 points ahead of last year’s champion, Carl Edwards. Tony Stewart – the points leader heading into this weekend – was not involved in the race, as he is scheduled to compete in only nine Nationwide races in 2008. Kyle Busch limped around the track to finish the race in 24th place, dropping to third in the standings – 74 points out of the lead.

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

 Nationwide Standings (from nascar.com):