Texas Cowboy Hat Goes to Dominant Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 12, 2013  Photo - Chris Graythen/Getty Imaages

Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 12, 2013
Photo – Chris Graythen/Getty images

In another impressive Nationwide Series performance, Kyle Busch is back in victory lane for the third straight race. Busch has been on a roll so far this season and four wins in six races isn’t too bad. He managed to stay out front all night and was there to take the checkered flag when it fell. Although lots of big-time Cup Drivers were in the race, Kyle  Busch was the best of all and that put him in victory lane at the end of the night.

Rookie Alex Bowman started on the pole and was able to lead up until lap five when points leader Sam Hornish Jr. was able to take over the lead. Hornish Jr. couldn’t remain up front for long either since his teammate, Brad Keselowski, worked his way to the front by lap 23.

The first caution of the night came out on lap 24 for Robert Richardson Jr. who spun around in turn two. Kyle Busch got off pit road first under the caution and that gave him his first lead of the night.

A wild second caution of the night featured Kyle Larson who managed to avoid two major accidents under the yellow-flag period. The original reason for the caution was for Larson who spun off turn four and across the frontstretch. While he spun across the frontstretch, he swerved back up into the racing groove and barely escaped getting hit by the oncoming-traffic.

The wildness didn’t end there, as Larson was trying to stay on the lead lap and only changed two tires when he made his way down pit road. That resulted in Larson blowing a tire on the backstretch while he raced back around the track attempting to stay on the lead lap. The blown tire left Larson’s car sliding down the backstretch and he was going straight for the safety truck. Larson was able to barely get by the safety truck without incident when he squeezed between the inside wall and the truck. He banged up the side of his car when he hit the inside wall, but didn’t hit the safety truck which could have created a bad accident.

Throughout the next fifty or so laps, many drivers swapped the lead including Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth and Sam Hornish Jr. Three more cautions flew during that period and the dash for the finish was shaping up as a good one.

After a caution with 80 laps remaining, Brad Keselowski took the lead and was able to stay there for about the next twenty laps.

The seventh caution of the night came out for Keselowski’s teammate, Sam Hornish Jr, when he made contact with Jeremy Clements and both wrecked off turn four and then spun through the grass to add even more damage to their cars.

On the ensuing restart, Kyle Busch took the lead again and he wouldn’t give it up for the rest of the race. He survived a few more restarts where he held off a determined Keselowski and managed to get himself a decent sized lead. He came down the frontstretch one last time with the checkered flag was waving. This was a familiar sight for Kyle Busch in the Nationwide Series this year and this race at Texas only added to his Nationwide dominance in 2013.

This was Busch’s sixth Texas win and was another win he earned this season by doing everything he needed for the victory. He got to wear the cowboy hat in victory lane and was all smiles when talking about another great race for him and his team. More wins are likely to come for Busch this season and another win today just signified that we should never doubt Kyle Busch when it comes to the Nationwide Series. Busch will look to sweep his second straight weekend tomorrow when the Cup Series competes in the Lone Star State.

Results via ESPN.com

POS DRIVER CAR MANUFACTURER

LAPS

MONEY

START

LED

PTS

BONUS

PENALTY

1 Kyle Busch 54 Toyota

200

2

91

0

0

0

2 Brad Keselowski 22 Ford

200

5

33

0

0

0

3 Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet

200

3

0

41

0

0

4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 88 Chevrolet

200

11

0

0

0

0

5 Kevin Harvick 33 Chevrolet

200

7

0

0

0

0

6 Matt Kenseth 18 Toyota

200

9

12

0

0

0

7 Regan Smith 7 Chevrolet

200

6

0

37

0

0

8 Kasey Kahne 5 Chevrolet

200

16

26

0

0

0

9 Brian Vickers 20 Toyota

200

13

0

35

0

0

10 Justin Allgaier 31 Chevrolet

200

14

0

34

0

0

11 Brian Scott 2 Chevrolet

200

20

0

33

0

0

12 Parker Kligerman 77 Toyota

200

8

0

32

0

0

13 Elliott Sadler 11 Toyota

200

10

0

31

0

0

14 Alex Bowman 99 Toyota

200

1

4

31

1

0

15 Reed Sorenson 43 Ford

200

25

0

29

0

0

16 Kevin Swindell 98 Ford

200

17

0

28

0

0

17 Chris Buescher 16 Ford

200

23

0

27

0

0

18 Nelson Piquet Jr. 30 Chevrolet

200

19

0

26

0

0

19 Joe Nemechek 87 Toyota

200

27

0

25

0

0

20 Mike Bliss 19 Toyota

199

18

0

24

0

0

21 Mike Wallace 01 Chevrolet

199

28

1

24

1

0

22 Jeffrey Earnhardt 79 Ford

199

36

1

23

1

0

23 Dexter Stacey 92 Ford

199

30

0

21

0

0

24 Blake Koch 24 Toyota

199

35

1

21

1

0

25 Jamie Dick 55 Chevrolet

199

31

0

19

0

0

26 Trevor Bayne 6 Ford

198

15

0

18

0

0

27 Johanna Long 70 Chevrolet

197

24

0

17

0

0

28 Kevin Lepage 74 Chevrolet

195

34

0

16

0

0

29 Juan Carlos Blum 15 Ford

194

39

0

15

0

0

30 Eric McClure 14 Toyota

194

37

0

14

0

0

31 Robert Richardson Jr. 23 Chevrolet

190

38

0

13

0

0

32 Kyle Larson 32 Chevrolet

190

12

0

12

0

0

33 Travis Pastrana 60 Ford

186

21

0

11

0

0

34 Sam Hornish Jr. 12 Ford

159

4

29

11

1

0

35 Jeremy Clements 51 Chevrolet

142

22

1

10

1

0

36 Landon Cassill 4 Chevrolet

120

26

1

0

0

0

37 Josh Wise 40 Chevrolet

96

33

0

7

0

0

38 Hal Martin 44 Toyota

53

32

0

6

0

0

39 J.J. Yeley 42 Chevrolet

10

40

0

0

0

0

40 Jeff Green 10 Toyota

3

29

0

4

0

0

 

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