Austin Dillon ran third and collected the $100,000 bonus as the highest-finishing series regular eligible for the Dash 4 Cash. Brian Scott came home fourth and Michael Annett fifth, as many contenders, including last week’s Dash 4 Cash winner Elliott Sadler, ran out of fuel in the overtime.

Amazingly, Busch, who last pitted on Lap 119, had enough fuel left to do a lengthy burnout — and then some.
 
"We pitted two laps after Brian, so I think that was part of it," Busch said. "I think the other part of it, too, was Brian and the 3 (Dillon) were running really, really hard trying to beat each other, obviously, and race really hard there.
 
"(But) when I got out front with the two-second lead or whatever, I started rolling out of the gas early getting into the corners, not using a whole lot of brake and just kind of saving my tires, saving my brakes, saving the fuel and doing what I could to just be ready, like (crew chief) Adam (Stevens) kept saying on the radio, in case there was a green-white-checker, to have something left to go race at the end.
 
"I think that all just compounded. I bet you there’s still probably a couple gallons left."
 
A slow pit stop on Lap 43, resulting from difficulties in changing the right front tire, shuffled Busch back to seventh for a restart on Lap 47. Vickers grabbed the lead on the restart lap and held it for 54 straight circuits, but Busch charged through the field and regained the top spot on Lap 107 with a dive to the inside in Turn 1.
 
Busch maintained his advantage until a spate of late-race cautions necessitated the three overtimes.
 
A crash involving Joey Logano, Parker Kligerman and Paul Menard, triggered when Trevor Bayne went to the apron to create a four-wide knot of potential trouble, slowed the field during the second green-white-checker. NASCAR then red-flagged the race for 2 minutes 46 seconds, and that proved the saving grace for Vickers, who ran out of fuel as he approached the finish line.
 
"We’ve got to thank NASCAR for giving us the red flag," Vickers said. "Had they not given us the red flag, I’m sure a lot of guys would have (run out of gas). I know we would have. I think that was smart on their part knowing the circumstances…
 
"We weren’t sure we were going to make it to the end of the race, period, much less three green-white-checkers. The cautions helped, saving fuel helped and just getting every ounce of fuel in it we could."
 
Sam Hornish Jr., who came to pit road for fuel under after the first green-white-checker attempt, would have preferred the race to continue under yellow. But Hornish charged forward after each of the final two restarts and salvaged a seventh-place finish, trimming the advantage of eighth-place finisher and series leader Regan Smith to five points.
 
Notes: As the four series regulars with the highest finishes, Vickers, Dillon, Scott and Annett are eligible for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus next Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway… Busch’s fourth win from the pole this year tied Sam Ard’s Nationwide Series record… Busch has led a series-best 1,114 laps this year and 12,085 laps in Nationwide competition, far and away a series record.

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The two were not only racing for a possible win Saturday but were ranked first (Smith) and third (Sadler) in the championship standings coming into the race.

Sadler’s No. 11 SportsClips Toyota was running third on the third and final attempt at a green-white-checkered finish with Smith’s Chevy lined up behind Sadler in fifth when they collided. Sadler spun out and salvaged an 18^th-place showing — the first time he’s finished outside the top-10 since June 1 at Dover, six races ago.

The result, however, dropped him two positions in the standings to fifth — 24 points behind Smith.

Asked for his take on the situation, Sadler said, “Go ask him,’’ motioning to Smith as a team member took Sadler by the arm and guided him out of the garage area.

Smith went into his team transporter to change out of his fire suit, then returned a few minutes later and calmly spoke with reporters. He reiterated it was nothing intentional, but just hard racing and that his car got away from him. But, he understood Sadler’s frustration.

“I just had a run on the last re-start on the bottom, and I don’t know who was ahead of him, I think the 20 (Brian Vickers) went to block him and he (Sadler) went to block me,’’ Smith said. “And I had a run on the inside so I went in there and got way down on the flat and slipped sideways, trying to keep off him initially there and when I did, it snapped sideways into him and took him out.

“It’s my fault. I hate that it happened, but you can’t take it back. It is what it is. I’m sure he’s pretty angry right now, but we’ll go to the next one and keep on fighting with this TaxSlayer.com Chevy and try to get some points.’’

Asked if he was surprised at all by Sadler’s reaction, Smith shook his head.

“I’d be mad too, in the same situation. I’d be just as mad,’’ Smith said. “I’ve raced Elliott clean for years, and it wasn’t like it was intentional. I understand his anger.

“The flip side is I felt like I had a run and got taken down to the bottom and who knows. I don’t want to make up any excuses and say I got junk on the tires. I know I didn’t have the level of grip that I anticipated I was going to have on the corner. My right front got in his left rear.

“It wasn’t intentional but it’s going to be tough to tell him that right now.’’

With the top five drivers in the standings separated by only 24 points and the top-10 within 69 points, it has been a tight championship run all season. The top five drivers — Smith, Sam Hornish Jr., Austin Dillon, Justin Allgaier and Sadler — have typically raced door-to-door with one another week after week.

Despite the tempers Saturday afternoon, Smith was confident that they would continue to race each other respectfully.

“You don’t think, ‘Oh, here’s a guy in the points, I’m just going to run into him,’" Smith said. “You just think here’s another position I can gain, let me try to make a pass here.

“I’d have been the happiest guy in the race if we’d just finished the race when it was three to go and that didn’t work out. Just have to move on. …there’s so much racing to go.’’

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