Kenseth Wins Charlotte, Busch Impressive in Debut

Winston cup Points leader Matt Kenseth “Busch-Whacked” his way to win the Carquest 300 at the Lowes Motor Speedway. Kenseth’s win can be considered a double Busch Whack, as not only did a Winston Cup regular take a win in the under series for the tenth time this season, but the Wisconsin native capitalized on a late race re-start to beat out eighteen-year old Kyle Busch whom he passed for the point with twenty-nine laps remaining.

Kenseth held the point, and was locked into victory as the caution flew for a Greg Biffle Spin on lap 197, ending the event under Yellow, and handing Kenseth his second Busch victory of the season.

“I felt like it was Christmas, I could not believe it, said Kenseth, referring to the late race call by Busch’s team to take two tires instead of four during the final round of pit stops. “They probably thought that most of the guys would get two tires for position, but I have been here long enough to have enough experience that I needed to take four.”

Busch, elated by the run, never seemed to question the call.

“We came in, we figured everybody else would take two”, noted Busch, the younger brother of Roush team driver Kurt Busch. Kyle was originally slated to compete in the Craftsman Truck Series for the Roush stable, but due to a change in NASCAR eligibility rules he was not allowed to compete in NASCAR until he turned eighteen years of age.

Kyle then signed with Hendrick Motorsports, who have him developing in the ARCA series where he has claimed two wins, and less than three weeks after his eighteenth birthday, he stated his first NBS event in a car owned by Hendrick teammate Joe Nemechek.

The impressive run by the younger Busch is certainly a foreshadowing of great things to come for the young Nevada driver.

Finishing behind the front two, were Scott Riggs, Todd Bodine, and Mike Bliss.

Pole sitter Kevin Harvick and fellow Winston Cup driver Michael Waltrip were the dominate cars as the two combined to lead a total of 123 of 200 laps, however mechanical problems regulated to two off the point finishing ninth and tenth respectively.

Points leader David Green was involved in an early race incident with Kerry Earnhardt, moving him back to thirty seventh, handing the series point lead back to Todd Bodine, who takes an ninety – eight point advantage as the series heads to the Monster Mile in Dover Delaware.