NASCAR

NASCAR Nationwide Series 2013 at Charlotte Motor Speedway results: Kyle Busch does it again

Late pass gives Kyle Busch NASCAR Nationwide Series victory from the pole at Charlotte.

Oct 12, 2013, 2:47 AM UTC

Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports

Status quo.

Kyle Busch won from the Coors Light pole -- as he almost always does -- and the race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship remained excruciatingly tight.

Busch held off charging series leader Austin Dillon in Friday night’s Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Earlier in the day, Busch had won his ninth NNS pole of the season, and for the eighth time in nine tries this year, Busch won from the top starting spot.

The victory was the series-best 11th of the season for Busch, who won for the eighth time in the series at Charlotte and for the 62nd time in his career, extending his own series record.

Sam Hornish Jr. ran third and remained eight points behind Dillon in the battle for the Nationwide Series title. Hornish scored an extra point for leading most laps (76) and matched Dillon’s 43 points scored in the race.

Kevin Harvick came home fourth, followed by Matt Kenseth and Justin Allgaier.

Busch, the pole winner, was first off pit road under caution for a restart on Lap 163 and held the top spot until Hornish ran him down on Lap 180. Over the course of the run, however, Hornish’s Ford began to fade, and Busch regained the top spot with an pass to the outside of Turn 2 on lap 193.

Kyle Larson restarted 10th on Lap 117 but, running the outside lane next to the wall, he diced his way through traffic and inherited the lead when Regan Smith came to pit road on Lap 141. At that point, Larson held a lead of more than four seconds, but Busch, running second, trimmed nearly three seconds off the advantage before Jeffrey Earnhardt’s blown engine caused the fifth caution on Lap 156.

Trouble with the right front tire cost Larson four spots during pit stops under yellow on Lap 157. Ultimately, the talented rookie scraped the wall in Turns 3 and 4 on lap 183 while chasing Dillon during an intense battle for third.

Despite finishing 13th, Larson nevertheless made a huge impression on the eve of his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500.

Elliott Sadler, fourth in the standings before the race, started from the rear of the field after backup car after wrecking his primary No. 11 Toyota during qualifying. Sadler charged through the field and ran as high as 14th before a bizarre wreck in Turn 1 spoiled his night.

The incident started in the tri-oval, where Reed Sorenson clipped the edge of the infield grass with his left-side tires and shot up the track into the No. 14 Camry of Eric McClure. Brian Vickers, darting to the inside to avoid the wreck, clobbered Sadler, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, just as Sadler was exiting pit road.

Sadler returned to the track but crashed in Turn 3 on Lap 66, ending his race in 35th place and effectively ending his run at the series championship.

Dollar General 400 finishing order

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps
1)	1	Kyle Busch	200
2)	4	Austin Dillon	200
3)	3	Sam Hornish Jr.	200
4)	10	Kevin Harvick	200
5)	15	Matt Kenseth	200
6)	12	Justin Allgaier	200
7)	2	Joey Logano	200
8)	7	Trevor Bayne	200
9)	13	Parker Kligerman	200
10)	14	Michael Annett	200
11)	30	James Buescher	200
12)	11	Brian Scott	200
13)	8	Kyle Larson	200
14)	16	Ryan Reed	200
15)	24	Mike Bliss	200
16)	17	Kevin Swindell	200
17)	27	Johanna Long	200
18)	6	Alex Bowman	200
19)	5	Regan Smith	200
20)	26	Jeremy Clements	200
21)	19	Chad Hackenbracht	199
22)	25	Mike Wallace	199
23)	29	Joe Nemechek	199
24)	31	Travis Pastrana	199
25)	28	Nelson Piquet Jr.	199
26)	38	Brad Sweet	199
27)	36	Robert Richardson Jr.	197
28)	35	TJ Bell	197
29)	18	Tanner Berryhill	195
30)	34	Jeffrey Earnhardt	154
31)	9	Brian Vickers	127
32)	20	Landon Cassill	125
33)	23	Eric McClure	110
34)	40	Kevin Lepage	103
35)	32	Jamie Dick	86
36)	37	Elliott Sadler	64
37)	21	Reed Sorenson	50
38)	33	Blake Koch	4
39)	39	Ken Butler	4
40)	22	Jeff Green	2