Kyle Busch wins O'Reilly 200 at Bristol

[August 21, 2008]  BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) -- There's no stopping Kyle Busch.

Busch earned his third win in the Craftsman Truck Series by dominating the O'Reilly 200 Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The 23-year-old led the final 130 laps, endured four cautions and a red flag over the final 21 laps and finally iced the victory by holding off the field on a green-white-checker finish.

"This feels pretty good," Busch said. "We just had a great race tonight."

Busch extended his record for combined victories in NASCAR's three top series to 17. He also joined Mark Martin and Carl Edwards as the only drivers to win at the .533-mile banked oval in all three series.

"It's fun to win anywhere, but to be able to do it in all three series at various race tracks, it means a lot," Busch said.

Busch, driving a Toyota, took the lead for good on the 71st lap after a lengthy door-to-door battle with Jimmie Johnson. Todd Bodine finished second, followed by pole winner Scott Speed and Johnny Benson. The top four finishers were all driving Toyotas.

"Kyle is a hell of a shoe," Bodine said. "He's an incredibly talented race car driver."

Benson started second and seized the lead on the first lap. He stayed out front until Busch passed him 29 laps later.

When the leaders pitted after a caution on Lap 42 -- the second caution of the night -- Johnson stayed out and took the lead. Once Johnson got out front, he took off on the restart, building his lead to more than three seconds before Tayler Malsam hit the wall and caused another caution.

After the restart, Johnson and Busch raced side by side for nine laps before Busch slid in front to regain the lead. Johnson, the defending Sprint Cup champion, fell out of contention after a crash just past the midway point. He began to spin coming out of the second turn and almost saved his truck before Dennis Setzer clipped his rear end, causing major damage.

"I just got loose and lost it," said Johnson, who was making his Truck Series debut, "I saved it three times before it looped. I ran out of talent in the end."

Benson was bidding to become the first driver to win four truck races in a row in the series' 13-year history, but the series points leader wasn't a factor as Busch continued to pull away. He increased his lead over Ron Hornaday Jr. to 119 points with nine races to go.

[Associated Press]

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