Leffler wins at wet Nashville as Busch runs dry

GLADEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Jason Leffler won the first NASCAR Busch Series race of his career early Sunday morning in a wild ending to the Federated Auto Parts 300 following a nearly three-hour rain delay at Nashville Superspeedway.

	Jason Leffler's crew covers his pit stall when the rains came midway through the race. Credit: AP

Leffler won under caution caused when Kyle Busch ran out of gas with four laps to go. He had led 60 laps and looked ready to run away with his third victory of the year, but wound up spinning into the infield grass.

That allowed Leffler to inherit the lead as the caution flag came out, and he was able to nurse his Chevrolet through the final laps for his first victory in his 56th start.

"I thought Booty was crazy," Leffler said of the advice of crew chief Booty Barker to save gas because Busch would not be able to make it to the end.

FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 300  •  Unofficial Results  •  Unofficial Standings

"It's not the way I wanted to win," Leffler said. "But I knew I couldn't catch the No. 5 (Busch)."

Busch wound up 17th, failing to finish in the top 10 for the first time in 11 races and lost the points to Martin Truex Jr.

Polesitter Truex finished second in his Chevy and now leads Busch by 45 points. Third was Clint Bowyer, followed by Mike Bliss and Ron Hornaday, giving Chevy a top-five sweep.

"It was just my fault. I ran out of gas," Busch said. "It was just a matter of time until Jason Leffler got to Victory Lane."

VIDEO CLIPS Jason Leffler visits Victory Lane for the first time Play video

Leffler, a three-time USAC midget champ, hadn't finished better than fourth this year.

It was a fitting end to a race that waited out a 2-hour, 48-minute rain delay at the 1.33-mile concrete oval.

NASCAR officials, who had to return to Dover on Monday to conclude the Busch race last week, tried to squeeze in the minimum 113 of the race's 225 laps needed to make the race official.

	Regan Smith's night ended hard against the outside wall. Credit: AP

They reduced prerace ceremonies and introduced drivers in their cars instead of on stage.

They might have squeezed in the necessary laps if not for three cautions for 21 laps that slowed them down for more than 31 minutes.

But the third caution caused by a crash on lap 85 slowed them down.

Officials cleared the grandstands because of lightning ahead of the approaching thunderstorm, and NASCAR then red-flagged the race around 9:20 p.m. ET, sending drivers to the pits even though a single rain drop had not fallen.

But the thunderstorm followed quickly enough and resulted in the delay.

Kasey Kahne, who will start on the pole at Sunday's Pocono 500, and Greg Biffle planned to leave if the rain hadn't stopped by 11 p.m. ET. Trucks and dryers hit the track only minutes before their self-imposed deadline, so they stuck around for the finish for a restart at 12:10 a.m.