Busch earns 8th Nationwide Series win of season
CLERMONT, Ind. - Kyle Busch held off Carl Edwards in a two-lap sprint to the finish to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series' Kroger 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park on Saturday night.
Busch used a perfectly timed restart to keep a hard-charging Edwards at bay and pick up his eighth win of the season and his fifth in his last six starts.
Edwards, who was docked 60 points and fined $25,000 for taking out series points leader Brad Keselowski at the end of last week's race in St. Louis, kept things clean this time. He used a late gamble to take on tires to roar through the field but didn't have quite enough to track down Busch.
Aric Almirola finished third, followed by pole-sitter Trevor Bayne and Reed Sorenson. Keselowski faded late to finish eighth.
A week after their run-in forced NASCAR officials to step in, saying they each crossed the line, Keselowski and Edwards were on their best behavior at the crowded 0.686-mile oval. The rivals found themselves running within a couple car lengths of each other for a long stretch at the beginning of the race and again on a late restart.