Series champ Kyle Busch wins Saturday's finale
Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Kyle Busch won his first NASCAR championship in the style to which he has become accustomed in the Nationwide Series, with a victory.
In winning Saturday’s Ford 300 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway – which he effectively clinched by starting the event – Busch equaled Sam Ard, who in 1983 became the first to win the championship and the season finale.
Saturday’s win was another in a long line of dominant performances in 2009.
Busch ends the season with nine wins, 25 top-five and 30 top-10 finishes in 35 races. He has led the most laps in 17 races this season, seven of which he won.
Busch finished the season with 5,682 points – more than any other driver in series history – and a final 210-point margin over championship runner-up Carl Edwards.
“This was the icing on the cake for our year and our championship,” said Busch, who now has 30 career wins in the series.
“It hasn’t been done in a long time; that tells you how hard it is to do.”
Busch’s crew chief, Jason Ratliff, agreed.
“I can’t think of anything that’s happened this season that comes close to what we were able to accomplish here tonight,” he said.
The driver’s championship is the first for Joe Gibbs Racing in the series. JGR won the owner title last year with its No. 20 Toyota team.
“This is huge,” Busch said. “My mom and dad are here. My brother (Kurt), he came up to me before the race. It’s cool. I wish I could have been with Kurt in 2004 when he won his (Sprint Cup) championship.”
Edwards, who took fresh tires under caution with 15 laps remaining, made a final charge on Busch entering turns 3 and 4. He couldn’t complete the pass and Busch held on for the win.
“It was close,” Edwards said of the last lap. “I just didn’t have it in my heart to spear him in Turn 3. I wanted to win this race badly.”
Jeff Burton finished third, Joey Logano fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth.
Busch’s victory and championship came close to being overshadowed by the continuing feud between Hamlin and Brad Keselowski, which moved back to the track on Saturday.
After a run-in at Phoenix last weekend and again leading up to Saturday’s race, Hamlin repeatedly said he would exact some revenge on Keselowski if given the opportunity.
On Lap 35 of 200, Hamlin found it – running up behind Keselowski and spinning him out.
NASCAR penalized Hamlin a lap for “rough driving.”
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