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"Kyle
Busch wins Sprint Cup LifeLock
400"
JOLIET, ILLINOIS (TICKER) —It
seems like a broken record,
but Kyle Busch has a nose for
Victory Lane.
In a Toyota Camry, Busch took
the checkered flag at Saturday’s
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock
400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
For the 23-year-old Busch, it
was the second second straight
week in which he visited Victory
Lane and the seventh time he
has been victorious on the circuit
this year.
“This is a dream season,”
Busch said.
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The five-year pro averaged 133.996
miles per hour while leading for a
total of 165 laps.
In a two-lap finish after the ninth
caution of the night, Busch - who
was in second on the restart - went
to the outside of Jimmie Johnson and
passed his Chevrolet as the white
flag was waved to signal the final
lap.
“As Jimmie was bringing us down
slow on the restart, I kind of pushed
him to go faster,” Busch said.
“On my pass, I had to go high
because he was going to block me low.”
The series points leader held off
charges from the Impalas of Johnson
and Kevin Harvick on the final four
turns to collect his 11th career Sprint
Cup win.
“On that last restart, I should
have given Kyle the inside,”
Johnson said. “When I heard
the spotter, I knew I was in trouble.
For a two-lap shootout, the outside
always wins.
“I didn’t make the best
decision there on the restart. I apologized
to my guys and to everyone involved
in Hendrick Motorsports.”
The Las Vegas native became the second
pole-sitter this season to win a Sprint
Cup event. Kasey Kahne won the Pocono
500 on June 8 after qualifying first.
Busch has won an incredible 14 NASCAR
races in 2008. Besides his seven on
the Sprint Cup circuit, he has two
victories on the Craftsman Truck Series
and five on the Nationwide circuit
- including Friday’s win here
in the Dollar General 300.
About the only thing that slowed down
Busch on this night was the Chicagoland
Speedway infield, where he got stuck
while attempting to do donuts to celebrate
his win. His No. 18 racer dug up huge
divots before it stuck fast in the
middle of the painted track emblem.
Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing crew
came running out of the pits to give
him a push as the trophy presentation
was awaiting.
Johnson was second for his fifth top-five
finish this season, while Harvick,
who won the first two Sprint races
on this track in 2001 and 2002, came
in third.
“I really thought we had a shot
at the win,” Harvick said. “We
were just a touch off of those two
guys in front of us for most of the
night and kept ourselves in position.
I felt like we were better than everybody
behind us.”
Rounding out the top five were the
Ford Fusion of Greg Biffle and the
Toyota of defending champion Tony
Stewart. Stewart also won here in
2004.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is second
in the official drivers standings,
finished 16th in a Chevy and now trails
Busch by a whopping 262 points.
“It was a long night,”
Earnhardt said. “We started
off not handling good and worked really
hard even though we didn’t make
much out of the day. Our finish will
look pretty bad on paper, but we ran
about 28th all day so I was pretty
happy to get top-15.”
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