Busch takes lead from Logano in overtime finish, winning Nationwide race at Chicagoland

Busch wins Nationwide race at Chicagoland

JOLIET, Ill. — Kyle Busch pounced on Joey Logano on a restart in overtime, then pulled away to win the Nationwide series race at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday night.

It was Busch’s 37th victory in NASCAR’s second-tier series, moving him into sole possession of second place in the series’ career wins list. Only Mark Martin has more, with 48.

“It turned out to be a good night,” Busch said.

Toyotas swept the top five spots as Logano finished second, followed by Brian Scott, David Reutimann and Jason Leffler.

Danica Patrick finished 24th, her first finish inside the top 30 in five Nationwide races this season. Patrick was two laps behind the leaders at the finish.

“I definitely learned a lot,” Patrick said during a postrace TV interview. “It was really nice to run a clean race with no accidents, really, especially in the first part. It’s so tough when you spin at the beginning of the race. But we didn’t do that, so we just trucked along.”

It was seventh Nationwide win of the season for Busch, who also won the Nationwide race at Chicagoland in 2008.

Busch dominated much of the race despite being penalized for speeding on pit road early on.

But Logano took the lead from Busch on a restart with 53 laps to go, and appeared to be cruising to victory when NASCAR officials issued a caution for debris with 15 laps left.

Logano and most of the leaders pitted, and Brad Keselowski led the field back to the restart.

Logano took the lead right away, but he had to defend it on another restart after Trevor Bayne hit the wall with four laps remaining.

That set up an overtime green-white-checker finish — one that would be held without Keselowski, who apparently ran out of gas just before the restart.

Keselowski, who came into Chicagoland with a firm grip on the series points lead, finished 21st.

Keselowski’s problem was a boost for Busch, who moved up a spot on the decisive restart.

If Keselowski hadn’t bowed out, Busch said, “I don’t think I would have had a shot to win the race, because it was going to take too much to get alongside Joey had the restart gone with Keselowski in place.”

Busch grabbed the lead less than a lap after the green flag fell, and the race came to an end with a big wreck back in the pack after he took the white flag.

Busch dominated the early stages of the race, but hit a speed bump when NASCAR officials penalized him for going too fast on the entry to pit road.

After a pass-through penalty on lap 60, Busch fell outside the top five. He recovered quickly, working his way back into the lead just before the race’s halfway point.

Busch made a green-flag pit stop with 65 laps to go, then cycled back into the lead six laps later, but his win appeared to be in danger when Logano moved in front on the re-start with 53 laps to go.

Jamie McMurray made an impressive charge through the pack after he was sent to the back for the start as a penalty for arriving late to the pre-race drivers’ meeting. McMurray won the pole for Saturday’s Sprint Cup series race on Friday afternoon.

Despite starting at the back, McMurray worked his way into the top 10 just past the race’s halfway mark and finished ninth.

There would be no such charge for Patrick, who lost a lap to the leaders early on.

Patrick had finished 30th or worse in each of her first four Nationwide races coming into Friday.

Earlier Friday, Patrick acknowledged suggestions by other drivers, most recently Kurt Busch, that she might have to concentrate full-time on stock car racing to truly make it in NASCAR. Patrick, who also races in the IndyCar series, said she still planned to race only part-time in NASCAR through the 2011 season, but would re-evaluate her career after that.