Sporting News Wire Service
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| Kyle Busch wins two of three Kentucky races this week |
It wasn't that he'll be written into the record book as the first Cup winner at the 1.5-mile track, the first speedway introduced into the series in 10 years.
No, Busch will remember Saturday's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky as the last thing he won on the way to his next race -- in this case Sunday's marquee Super Late Model event at Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin.
That's the way Busch thinks -- win and move on.
In holding off fast-closing David Reutimann and Jimmie Johnson in a two-lap stretch run, Busch won for the third time this season, the 22nd time in his Cup career and the 99th time across NASCAR's top three national series, third most all-time.
Even though he won two of the three events at Kentucky Speedway over the weekend -- he won the Camping World Truck Series race Thursday -- Busch wasn't thinking about the numbers, not even that he had leap-frogged past Kevin Harvick (16th Saturday) and Carl Edwards (fifth) into the top spot in the series standings.
Asked what the most impressive part of the Kentucky win was to him, Busch replied, "That I won on the way to Slinger. I've got to go to Slinger [Sunday]. I'm going to stay here tonight, chill out and get a good night's sleep, get out of here in the morning and head up there and, hopefully, win a Late Model race."
Saturday's race wasn't settled until Busch kept Johnson at bay on the last restart, clearing Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet off Turn 2. Reutimann restarted in the fourth spot but charged forward, passing Johnson just short of the finish line on the final lap. Reutimann finished .179 seconds behind Busch.
Johnson said his inability to stay beside Busch on the next-to-last lap cost him a chance to win the race.
"I was able to hang with the 18 [Busch] inside of Turns 1 and 2, and he just cleared me going down the back," Johnson said. "The outside lane had a little bit more momentum coming off of [Turn] 2 down the back. If I could have stayed inside of him, it would have been one heck of a finish at the end.
"But it didn't happen that way, and then he cleared me and went on, and then I had my hands full with the 00 [Reutimann]. David was probably the best car at the end, and if he had cleared me sooner, I think he would have been up there with the 18 racing for the win."
Ryan Newman played pit strategy perfectly and came home fourth, followed by Edwards. Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, David Ragan, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon completed the top 10.
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Quaker State 400 Results
Kentucky Post-Race Notes
• Kyle Busch's victory in the inaugural Cup race at Kentucky Speedway was his 22nd series victory in his 240th start.• Kyle Busch tied Kevin Harvick with his third victory of the season and assumed the Cup points lead by four points over Carl Edwards.
• Kyle Busch won from the pole, the first driver to do that in a Cup race in 2011.
• Five of Kyle Busch's 22 career victories (23 percent) have come from the pole.
• It was the fourth win of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2011, tying Roush Fenway Racing for the most.
• David Reutimann (second) scored his best finish of 2011 and only his second top-10 in 18 races.
• Jimmie Johnson (third) finished in the top 10 for the 11th time this season.
• Ryan Newman (fourth) earned his best finish of 2011.
• Carl Edwards (fifth) picked up his 13th top-10 finish in 18 races, the most of any driver.
• Matt Kenseth (sixth) has finished 14th or better in each of the past eight races.
• Jamie McMurray (36th) blew his engine and has not finished in the top 10 in the past eight races.
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