Busch overcomes car, wall, pits for Darlington victory

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- The high speeds and new pavement at Darlington Raceway didn't bother Kyle Busch one bit.

If a wall got in his way, the Sprint Cup points leader just bounced off and kept going. And after his primary competition, polesitter Greg Biffle, left the race with a blown engine, it was clear sailing for Busch, who cruised to the win in Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500 Sprint Cup race.

Dodge Challenger 500

Official Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
2.	Carl Edwards	Ford
3.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
4.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet
5.	David Ragan	Ford
6.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
7.	Denny Hamlin	Toyota
8.	Travis Kvapil	Ford
9.	Dave Blaney	Toyota
10.	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet

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At a track-record average speed of 140.350 mph, Busch, who led a race-high 169 laps, pulled away after a restart on Lap 308 of 367 and ran away from the rest of the field en route to his third Cup win of the season and the seventh of his career.

One week removed from last Saturday's controversial finish at Richmond, where Busch spun Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a late-race battle for the lead, Busch finished 3.115 seconds ahead of runner-up Carl Edwards and extended his lead in the Cup standings to 79 points in front of second-place Jeff Burton.

Jeff Gordon was third Saturday night, followed by Earnhardt and David Ragan. Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney and Burton completed the top 10.

"Luckily, the team gave me a really strong car tonight, because I like to knock the wall down," quipped Busch, who recovered from a loose lug nut that brought him back to the pits on Lap 60 and cost him track position. "We had a really good piece tonight."

Gordon had a close-up view of Busch's contact with the wall -- until Busch pulled away.

"I can't tell you how many times he [Busch] tried to give the race away by hitting the wall," Gordon said. "You wouldn't believe how torn up the right side of his car was."

Whether Busch's car was torn up or not, Gordon knew his No. 24 Chevrolet was no match for the No. 18 Toyota.

"We didn't have a car that could get up there and challenge for the win, so we just brought it home in one piece," said Gordon, who jumped from 13th to 10th in the championship standings. "The No.18 was in an unbelievable class of his own. Carl and his crew got their stuff better there at the end.

"We tried and tried and tried a lot of things, and every time we got it a little bit better. But every time we tried to get it better than that, we went the wrong way with it. So, we just had to settle for a car that was a third-place car and hope we could get track position -- and we did."

Edwards, who is tied with Busch for a series-best three victories this season, likewise had nothing for the 23-year-old driver, who became the youngest winner in Darlington history.

"I wanted to beat him real bad," said Edwards, who gained three spots to seventh in the points standings. "Now we're tied for most wins."

Biffle had the dominant car for the first two-thirds of the race, despite pitting early on Lap 194 with a loose right rear wheel. By Lap 210, Biffle had regained the lead as pit stops cycled through, but he brought the car to pit road again on Lap 224, this time with a blown engine. Biffle finished 43rd.

"I had loose wheels all night," said Biffle, who led 95 laps before his early exit. "Then I think the motor blew up. All I want is equipment that stays together."

Fourth-place starter Tony Stewart lost his bid to win his first Cup race at Darlington on Lap 2, when contact with Elliott Sadler's Dodge sent the No. 20 Toyota into the Turn 1 wall. Stewart finished 21st, one lap down.

News and Notes:

• Ragan climbed two spots in the Cup standings to 12th, the last Chase-eligible position. Ryan Newman (37th) and Kasey Kahne (22nd) fell out of the top 12.
• Blaney's No. 22 Toyota supplanted the No. 77 Dodge of Sam Hornish Jr. (38th) in the top 35 in the owner points standings. Blaney won't have to qualify on speed at Charlotte in two weeks. Hornish will.
• The average speed of 140.350 mph broke the record of 139.958 mph set in March 1993 by the late Dale Earnhardt.