NASCAR Cup Series

Richmond runaway: Kyle Busch leads every lap in dominant NNS win

Published Sep. 5, 2014 9:50 p.m. ET

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From the drop of the green flag until the time the checkered flag flew 250 laps later, it was the Kyle Busch show at Richmond International Raceway during Friday night's Virginia 529 College Savings 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

Starting on the pole, Busch set a torrid pace in the opening stages of the race, and never looked back. 

Busch was able hang onto the lead through a series of four cautions in the opening 95 laps of Saturday's 250-lap event. That never changed throughout the remainder of the race. Despite cautions and multiple restarts, Busch kept his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota out front.

Restarting the race with 18 laps to go, Busch was able to hold off Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick, as he stretched his lead while the field battled for position behind him.

Taking the checkered flag, Busch scored his fourth win of the season and became the 18th driver in Nationwide Series history to lead every lap en route to a win. Busch was also the last driver to lead every single lap, when he did so in Phoenix in 2011.

"Good car, good decisions, and good execution there tonight," said Busch. "This Monster Energy Camry was good. I knew we were in for a different result than what we've been the last couple of times. Pretty pumped about that and pretty pumped about being back in Victory Lane, being back in Victory Lane in the Nationwide Series -- it's been a while if you think about it.

The victory snapped a streak of frustrating finishes for Busch, who finished second in four of the last five races coming into Friday night's race. 

"It's fun to come out here and try to get back on track with something," he said. "I've had a lot of bad luck lately, and it feels good to try and get some mojo back."

After the race, NASCAR officials announced they would take the rear gear from Busch's No. 54 Toyota back to the R&D Center in Concord, N.C. for further evaluation.

While Busch was leading the way out front, Kevin Harvick jumped from his 15th starting spot up to the top five by just Lap 40, but his forward progress stalled once he got there.

Harvick was able to grab second on a restart with 79 laps to go, but Busch's car was in a class of its own. While Harvick went to work trying to chase down Busch, he also had to deal with rookie sensation Chase Elliott, who ran third for much of the night.

Elliott eventually got around Harvick on the final restart of the night with 18 laps to go, to score his second runner-up finish of the year and 12th top five finish. With his runner-up finish, Elliott will carry his lead in the series standings to Chicagoland Speedway next week.

"Really proud of our effort tonight," said Elliott. "I hate we couldn't beat Kyle there. I thought we had a really good NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet. We made gains really throughout the night and we were getting closer and closer."

Friday night's top three results were a flip-flop of the April Richmond race in which the JR Motorsports teammates of Harvick and Elliott topped Busch, with Harvick going to Victory Lane.

"I think we were actually better than where we were in the spring (race), we were able to out-run Kevin (Harvick) and were really close to where they were all night," the 18-year-old rookie said. "I think the 54 (Busch) got better between the spring race and now. Now it's up to us to get better before next year. We're certainly up for the challenge."

With one of the fastest long-run cars in the field, Harvick was happy to see the final caution come out, setting up a restart with only 18 laps to go.

"I was pretty disappointed, because I thought our Armor Chevy was going to catch him," Harvick said of the caution that flew as he was chasing Busch for the lead. "He was running the bottom and we were all the way up in the top groove ... We were off all weekend for whatever reason and just never could really get a grasp on it. We had a good long-run car, but that was about it."

Ryan Blaney, Brian Scott, Regan Smith, Dakoda Armstrong, Elliott Sadler, Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher rounded out the top 10.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series returns to action Sept. 13 at Chicagoland Speedway. 

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