Kyle Busch takes his traditional bow after winning the Nationwide Series Heluva Good! 200 at Dover International Speedway on Saturday.
By Lee Montgomery
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
DOVER, Del.—Kyle Busch’s dominant victory in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Heluva Good! 200 at Dover International Speedway was punctuated by a late-race dust-up between Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer – one that sent Bowyer to the garage and the NASCAR Nationwide Series hauler.
Busch scored his fourth series victory of the season and 34th of his career by leading all but 14 of 205 laps as the race ended with a green-white-checkered finish. He never was truly challenged and pulled away from the field on the final restart.
Toyotas driven by Kyle Busch, who started from the pole, and Denny Hamlin lead the field to the green flag to start
the Heluva Good! 200. (Todd Warshaw / Getty Images)
"This is just another product of Joe Gibbs Racing and all the guys that work so hard," said Busch, who won from the pole at Dover. "Everybody at the shop does a great job for us. The preparation was there. When we unloaded, we unloaded good. We just tweaked on it. That's what it takes."
As Busch celebrated in Victory Lane, Bowyer was waiting in the Nationwide hauler to meet with NASCAR officials. On the next-to-last restart, Hamlin punted Bowyer out of second place as the green flag waved. The fracas triggered a nine-car accident and an 11-minute, 43-second red flag.
Following a restart on lap 200, Denny Hamlin gets into Clint Bowyer to ignite a chain-reaction that caught up nine cars and
brought out the red flag. (Nick Laham / Getty Images)
After the red was lifted, Bowyer drove from pit road and slammed into the side of Hamlin's car, causing it to spin. NASCAR immediately parked Bowyer and sent him to the garage.
"(Our team has) had a frustrating year, bringing home a lot of torn-up racecars," said Bowyer, who replaced John Wes Townley in Richard Childress Racing's No. 21 six races ago. "It is what it is. I don't have a beef with Denny. We'll be fine. I got one taken from me. Just a little payback."
Hamlin has been involved in NASCAR Nationwide controversy at Dover before, getting together with Brad Keselowski last year. But this time, his reaction was more calm.
"It just didn't have the speed that those guys did, but we tried to make something happen on the restart and got the 21 and the 38 (of Kasey Kahne) there," Hamlin said of his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. "A lot of times when that happens you kind of expect retaliation."
Race winner Kyle Busch gives a thumbs up to fans and crew members on pit road after his Heluva Good! 200 win. (Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images for NASCAR)
Ryan Newman drove through the crash and finished second to Busch, with Jamie McMurray third.
Reed Sorenson was fourth, followed by Braun Racing teammate Jason Leffler.
Kevin Harvick was sixth. Brad Keselowski finished seventh to hold on to the points lead by 11 over Busch. Greg Biffle was eighth, with rookies Brian Scott and Colin Braun rounding out the top 10.
Heluva Good! 200 results:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Ryan Newman
3. Jamie McMurray
4. Reed Sorenson
5. Jason Leffler
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Brad Keselowski
8. Greg Biffle
9. Brian Scott *
10. Colin Braun *
11. Carl Edwards
12. Denny Hamlin
13. Brendan Gaughan
14. Steve Wallace
15. Michael Annett
16. Justin Allgaier
17. Tony Raines
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. *
19. Scott Lagasse Jr.
20. Landon Cassill
21. Kenny Wallace
22. Mike Bliss
23. Willie Allen
24. Eric McClure
25. Clint Bowyer
26. Joe Nemechek
27. Kasey Kahne
28. Paul Menard
29. Trevor Bayne
30. Michael McDowell
31. Mark Green
32. Chad McCumbee
33. Jason Keller
34. Mike Wallace
35. Robert Richardson Jr.
36. Josh Wise
37. Morgan Shepherd
38. Kevin Lepage
39. Johnny Chapman
40. Chase Miller
41. Kevin Hamlin
42. Brian Keselowski
43. David Gilliland
*Rookie
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