Originally published Monday, April 28, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Auto Racing | Nothing can wreck Busch's quest
Kyle Busch wasn't happy to be at Talladega Superspeedway. He doesn't like the track. Talladega is known for big wrecks — and Busch...
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kyle Busch wasn't happy to be at Talladega Superspeedway. He doesn't like the track.
Talladega is known for big wrecks — and Busch is known for being in them.
"I wreck every time I come here," he said. "What's there to be excited about besides another torn-up race car?"
But Sunday, Busch's No. 18 Toyota didn't wreck. By staying out of trouble and making a key save to avoid starting a crash late in the race, Busch captured his second win of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, prevailing on a last-lap caution as 12 cars wrecked behind him in the Aaron's 499.
The victory was Busch's seventh across NASCAR's three national series this year.
"I guess I am an efficient-enough driver that if you give me a good car I can do something with it," the 22-year-old Busch said.
Juan Pablo Montoya finished second. Greg Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., placed 18th and Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw finished 23rd of 43.
Bobby Labonte spun out on Lap 182 for the race's seventh caution. Coming out of the restart, Michael Waltrip's Toyota led Jimmie Johnson and Busch.
Busch made his move, blocking and receiving pushes from Jeff Gordon and Montoya to stay in the lead.
"Montoya, man, he was pushing," Busch said. "He didn't want to get off the back bumper of this thing, so that was pretty awesome. I've got to thank him and thank Jeff."
A pileup began on the last lap and Busch's competitors spun and crashed behind him.
A caution came out and the field froze with Busch in the lead.
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"We still had damage [to the car], but it wasn't enough to keep us from victory lane," Busch said.
Wheldon wins in IndyCar
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — There was no magic for Danica Patrick this time, with Dan Wheldon holding off Tony Kanaan to win his second consecutive IRL IndyCar Series race held at Kansas Speedway.
Patrick, who on the previous weekend became the first woman to win an IndyCar race, never got into contention in the RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 and wound up on the sideline with a broken wheel hub.
"It felt like something was wrong at some point with the left front," a disappointed Patrick said. "I don't know when it started. Definitely, the loose feeling I was having that last stint was probably the rear tire moving when I got in the corner."
It was the 14th career victory for Wheldon, a former series champion, but the first time he has taken a checkered flag since winning on the 1.5-mile Kansas track a year ago.
Other races
• Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen won the Spanish Grand Prix, and teammate Felipe Massa was second in the Formula One race in Montmelo. Raikkonen, who has 17 career victories and leads this year's standings, won by 3.228 seconds.
• Ashley Force defeated her father, John Force, in the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., to become the first female driver to win a top-level Funny Car event.
Other winners were Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
• Scott Pruett held off Ryan Dalziel by 0.548 seconds in the Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, the third victory for Pruett and Memo Rojas in four Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series events this year.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
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