Kurt Busch wins AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway: Sprint Cup Series – NASCAR news
Kurt Busch made the most of the opportunities presented to him as he held off challenges from Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards to win the AAA 400 at the Dover International Speedway in the Sprint Cup Series on Sunday, October 2, 2011.
The win is Busch’s 24th career victory and his second of the season. Busch led five times in the race for a total of 92 laps. He started from second place but wrestled the lead from pole sitter Martin Truex Jr. and remained in the
top 3 for a large part of the race. He took the lead for the last time at lap 358 and raced away to the chequered flag.
Jimmie Johnson has only himself to blame as he failed to capitalise on his lead and made mistakes on the last two restarts which gave Kurt Busch the lead and Busch never looked back from that point on. Johnson will still be pleased with a 2nd place
finish which brings him right back into the race for the championship.
Carl Edwards will also be kicking himself after he received a pit-road speeding penalty at lap 246, which put him a lap down and in 28th position. He did well to rally from that position and finish 3rd in
the race, thanks largely to J.J Yeley who crashed and brought out the caution which allowed Edwards to get back on the lead lap.
Kasey Kahne finished 4th after another strong performance while Matt Kenseth raced in at 5th. Kyle Busch also gave his stuttering championship chances a lift as he finished 6th in the race.
Kevin Harvick regained his lead at the top of the overall points table as he finished 10th. Jeff Gordon made it to the chequered flag in 12th position with Denny Hamlin in 18th.
The rest of the Chase pack had a nightmare Brad Keselowski finished 20th, Ryan Newman finished 23rd, Dale Earnhardt Jr. coming in at 24th and Tony Stewart was the lowest finishing Chaser as he finished 25th.
The results have turned the championship race on its head as Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards now lead the table on points. Tony Stewart has fell down to third place, 9 points behind the leaders. Kurt Busch is level with Tony Stewart on points in fourth place.
Jimmie Johnson silenced his doubters for the moment has he jumps from 10th place to 5th, 13 points behind Harvick and Edwards.
Brad Keselowski drops two places as he now sits in 6th. Matt Kenseth remains in 7th place but is now just 14 points behind the lead pair. Kyle Busch is now in 8th place with Jeff Gordon running in at 9th. Only 19 points
separate the top 9 racers so the race for the championship has been thrown wide open by this race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman are in 10th and 11th places and while they are not out of it, they have left themselves a mountain to climb. Denny Hamlin remains in 12th place,
with his chances for this year as good as over.
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