Suburban Journals of Chicago Sports Page

The Start of the Race
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo by Dan Peters

Busch got a break when series points leader Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel on the final caution lap before the last green-flag run, which began with a restart on Lap 202. Keselowski’s misfortune allowed Busch to move to the front of the outside line, beside his teammate.

Keselowski Up front early… often… but not enough gas to go the distance…
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo by Dan Peters

“It wasn’t easy. We know we shouldn’t win. We had the track position when it mattered and the car got really, really tight on us. But, these guys never gave up. They knew I had it in me. I didn’t think I had it in me. It’s fun to race in the Nationwide Series. I love it. To win as many as we won and to be successful as JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) has been, it’s fun every week. It’s always cool to come out here and put on a good show

Busch was able to keep Logano to the bottom of the track and clear his Gibbs teammate for the win. The race ended under caution because of a wreck on the frontstretch after Busch took the while flag to begin the final lap.

“I was just too tight behind him. When I’m out front I have all the air and can do whatever I want. I started running him down when I moved up. And then he moved up to get in front of me and blocked my air, so I had to try to go back to the bottom and see if I couldn’t get closer. I just kind of sold out five lengths behind him, I couldn’t get any closer than that, but our car was fast. It’s fun to come out here and race in the Nationwide Series. I love doing it, but it’s also fun when you have cars this good with JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and you can win.”

Logano’s Crew Kept his Toyota in the hunt all night.. Carrying a
special Harry Potter Paint Scheme
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo by Dan Peters

Logano was trying win his second consecutive Nationwide Race at Chicago. But a second place finish is the first loser as most drivers will tell you.

“Our run was okay. We were a second-place car most of the night. I felt like we got closer and closer, clean air was the biggest deal. Whoever had clean air was definitely going to be faster. We were able to get that clean air towards the end. It’s almost like a guarantee that a caution is going to come out. You know it’s going to happen with 10 (laps) to go if you have more than a five car length lead, you can almost promise that’s going to happen. Of course that happened and we took two tires, which worked for the first restart, and then a caution came out. I restarted on the bottom every time I was able to take the lead. To me, I thought it was a no-brainer to start on the bottom again, except Keselowski ran out of gas or something on the outside. I’m not sure how that happened, how that lineup worked because third-place started third still and the whole line moved up. It was kind of a screwy situation that should have been the other way around. I was so committed to the bottom and Kyle (Busch) did a good job. He did what he was supposed to do. He drove into the turn and got me loose. He beat me. I’m embarrassed more than anything else.”

With Busch’s seventh of this season and 37th all time, He broke a tie for second with Kevin Harvick on the all-time list.

Toyota Domination..

Braun Racing’s Brian Scott, David Reutimann and Jason Leffler finished third through fifth, respectively, as Toyotas swept the top five positions.

Busch, who led a race-high 110 laps, took the lead for the first time on Lap 10 and dominated the race—despite a pit-road speeding call that required a pass-through penalty under green—until NASCAR threw a caution for debris in Turn 2 on Lap 141.

Logano took the lead on the subsequent restart on Lap 148 and remained out front in clean air.

“It’s over,” Busch moaned on Lap 172, trailing Logano by nearly a second. “There ain’t going to be another caution. The freakin’ race is over.”

As it turned out, Busch was wrong. NASCAR called a caution for debris on Lap 185, and Busch pitted for four tires and a track bar adjustment designed to loosen the handling of his Toyota. He got his chance to win the race when Trevor Bayne slammed the Turn 1 wall on Lap 196.

Danica was Racing with the boys tonight.. Here she battles Mike Wallace
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo by Mark Rotor

A career night for Danica Patrick

Patrick finished a career-best 24th in her fifth series start. “I definitely learned a lot,” Patrick said. “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.”