It was more than likely that Kyle Busch didn’t need Mother Nature’s help to win Saturday’s Blue Jeans Go Green 200 at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway, but when rain arrived with 32 laps remaining, it added a blanket of security for the driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry to win his first race of the year and third in a row at PIR.
The field, dominated by Sprint Cup Series regulars were fighting weather from the drop of the green flag, but when Ryan Reed crashed exiting Turn 2 on Lap 168, the caution flew with the rain intensifying a few minutes later, putting the field under the red flag. NASCAR attempted to re-dry the 1.0-mile oval multiple times and was relatively within a half-hour of putting the field back under racing conditions, when another round of rain with lighting darkening the area, forcing NASCAR to make the race official after two hours and eight minutes under halted conditions.
Saturday’s triumph for Joe Gibbs Racing was the 64th of Busch’s Nationwide career and betters a fourth-place finish last weekend at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The Las Vegas, Nevada native pulled a Phoenix sweep last year, winning both races from the pole. This year, under NASCAR’s new knockout qualifying procedure, Brad Keselowski won the pole for Penske Racing, but Busch quickly attacked and took command of the event, leading two times for a dominating 155 laps. Surprisingly, it was the first time that the 28-year old driver had won a rain-shortened event in NASCAR’s top-three series.
“I think just the pure dominance we’ve shown here the last few times that we’ve come here and the amount of laps we’ve led with how fast our cars are is pretty phenomenal,” Busch said after a rain-soaked celebration. “All the credit goes to Adam Stevens (crew chief) and everybody back at the shop.
“It’s fun to win them anyway. This is my first time winning a rain-shortened one. Welcome to the tent. I don’t know that it really made a whole lot of difference. We were really good. I would have loved to gone back out there after, but the weather wasn’t on our side today.”
Kevin Harvick in his debut for JR Motorsports was second, followed by pole sitter Keselowski, Turner Scott Motorsports’ Kyle Larson and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five.
Keselowski recovered from an accident on Lap 20 to run third. A tap from the Rochester Hills, Michigan native sent Darryl Haar spinning into the outside wall off Turn 2 in a collision that also damaged the nose of Keselowski’s car.
The 2010 NNS champion restarted 27th on Lap 29 after pitting but worked his way forward and took advantage of his earlier pit stop to retake the lead, since most of the cars behind him had made green-flag stops for tires and fuel before the second caution slowed the race on Lap 90.
“It was unfortunate. I think Kevin was right behind me when that happened,” Keselowski added. “We were going through lap traffic and there is a speed differential and we were trying to get through traffic as quick as I could. I needed to make time up as much as possible and not lose as much as possible. I made a move and I couldn’t tell if he didn’t know I was there or just turned down or whatever happened. It was a bad situation and I feel bad for guys like that in the sense that they are trying to make it in this sport and it isn’t easy to do. I have been in those shoes and it also did damage to our car which may or may not have had an affect, who knows? It is just part of racing sometimes and you hope everyone lives and learns and gets better the next time.”
Elliott Sadler was sixth ahead of Trevor Bayne, Daytona winner Regan Smith, Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon to comprise the top-10. For Elliott, it was his first top-10 finish in just his second Nationwide start driving for Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dillon’s teammate Brian Scott was 11th. James Buescher is showing some early season strength, despite some obstacles with RAB Racing, placing 12th. Turner Scott Motorsports other pilot, Dylan Kwasniewski was 13th in his No. 31 AccuDoc Solutions / Rock Star Energy Chevrolet Camaro, with Ryan Sieg in his family-owned RSS entry mounting another solid finish with 14th and Chris Buescher, who missed the field at Daytona closing out the top-15.
Other notables inside the top-20: Brendan Gaughan (16th), Dakoda Armstrong (18th) and Mike Wallace (20th).
Three drivers raced Saturday with heavy hearts. JD Motorsports with Gary Keller majority owner Johnny Davis departed the speedway unexpectedly on Friday night, after his son, Kyle lost his battle to a longtime illness. Landon Cassill, Jeffery Earnhardt and Daryl Harr raced in his honor Saturday, with Cassill leading the trio with a 19th place effort. Davis connected with NASCAR nation through social media late Friday night, thanking the community for its support. He also said, “Don’t be sad, celebrate for Kyle is at peace.”
Next up for the NASCAR Nationwide Series is the running of the Boyd Gaming 300 from Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 8. Defending champion Sam Hornish Jr. is not expected to enter the race.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
Editor’s Note: Reid Spencer of the NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report. [table=2106](i) Ineligible for Driver Points in this Series
# Denotes Rookie
TLd – Times Led
LLd – Laps Led[table=2107]BPts – Bonus Points, -Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, PPos = Previous Position, G/L = Points standing gain/loss
Source: Timing and Scoring provided by NASCARMedia/NASCAR Statistics
