Associated Press
GLADEVILLE, Tenn. ó
Kyle Busch raced to his fourth Nationwide Series victory of the year and ninth overall NASCAR win of the season Saturday night, easily holding off Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards in the Federated Auto Parts 300.
The 24-year-old Busch celebrated the victory, his 51st overall in NASCAR’s top three series, by smashing the guitar trophy in Victory Lane.
Keselowski, the race winner last year coming off a victory last week in Dover, was second ó 0.891 seconds back. Edwards, a three-time Nashville Superspeedway winner, finished third.
Mike Bliss was fourth, followed by Jason Leffler.
Busch led the most laps and avoided a series of wrecks early and midway through the 225-lap race. Busch’s crew serviced his Toyota in a 14.3 seconds during the final round of green-flag stops with 35 laps to go, and he was back in front by lap 202.
Busch led the first 67 laps, with Edwards and Keselowski not far behind.
At the halfway mark, Busch opened a 6-second lead over Keselowski before things again turned dicey. Brian Keselowski, Brad’s older brother, spun on lap 114 and on lap 126 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun in turn four, touching off a five-car wreck that took out Jason Keller and Trevor Bayne and brought out the red flag. Keller entered the race sixth in the standings, while Bayne was second-fastest in qualifying.
When racing resumed, only 10 cars remained on the lead lap and only six were there by the finish.