NASCAR Cup Series

Kyle Busch extends record to 12 Nationwide wins

Published Oct. 10, 2010 2:05 a.m. ET

foxsports

Kyle Busch took advantage of two poor pit stops by Kevin Harvick's crew and rallied from a speeding penalty for his record-extending 12th Nationwide Series victory of the year Saturday at Auto Club Speedway.

Busch, the polesitter, had the best car on the restarts, but Harvick was better on the long runs in the 300-mile race.

Harvick's crew negated any long-run success he was having, bumbling two pit stops to knock him out of the lead twice.

Busch had a pit-road problem of his own and dropped to 15th after being penalized for speeding, but quickly worked his way back to the front and pulled way in a final five-lap dash after a wreck took out Danica Patrick.

Points leader Brad Keselowski was second, and Harvick finished third.

This one was determined, in a big part, in the pits, starting with the second caution midway through the race.

Busch, who was running second, had a good stop, but was dropped to the back of the first-lap group into 15th for driving too fast into pit road. Joey Logano, third at the time, came out 10th due to a problem changing a tire.

Harvick had a tire-changing problem as well - the crewman got gas in his eyes - dropping him from first to sixth.

''Come on guys, can we win a damn race?'' Harvick said through his radio after the sluggish stop.

By the next pit stop, about 25 laps later, Harvick took a swipe at his crew as he entered.

''I'm terrified to come down pit road,'' he said on the radio.

No gas in the eye and no worries this time; a quick stop and Harvick was fourth for the restart and was up to third not long after that.

Busch, meanwhile, was passing cars as if they were street signs, claiming eight spots in 12 laps. He quickly moved to second after the third caution and passed Keselowski for the lead with 38 laps left.

Harvick, who was good on the long runs all day, started rolling again and whipped past Busch a lap later to retake the lead.

Then came another yellow and another problem.

Still in the lead, Harvick led the pack into the pits after a collision with 24 laps left. By the time his crew bumbled through another stop, he was back to sixth again.

''That's six spots we've lost,'' he radioed in. ''Why not?''

Busch had the lead when the green flew again, survived two more restarts and had a comfortable 1.034-second margin as he crossed the checkers to win for the third time this season after being hit with a speeding penalty.

Patrick started 14th for her best qualifying run in her eighth Nationwide race and was on pace for a top-15 finish, only to get taken out in a hard wreck with two other cars with 10 laps. She wasn't hurt, but was clearly frustrated, throwing her arms in the air after driving her car to the garage.