Associated Press
DOVER, Del. ó Kyle Busch’s latest NASCAR victory came like so many of the first 18.
Pretty easily.
Busch made it eight victories this season in the Nationwide Series, leading 157 laps and absolutely dominating to win Saturday in a green-white-checkered flag finish at Dover International Speedway.
“It was a pretty flawless day for us,” Busch said. “We made it look easy.”
That was win No. 19 this season for Busch in the Nationwide, Trucks and Sprint Cup races. No one is having a season like Busch, even though his 34th-place finish in the Cup race last week dropped him from first to eighth in the points standings.
“I think we’re all tired of hearing about Kyle Busch,” said runner-up Mike Bliss, chuckling. “I’d boo, too.”
Starting from the pole, Busch was never really challenged and pulled ahead by a couple of car lengths on the final restart late in an overtime race that stretched to 207 laps. He won in the same No. 18 Toyota that his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin drove to Victory Lane in May.
And he did it with a new crew chief.
With JGR crew chief Jason Ratcliff suspended indefinitely for cheating, Busch won by what he termed a “crew chief by committee.” This time, it was Joel Weidman who got credit for the win. Steve Addington, Busch’s crew chief in the Cup series, was on the pit box acting as an advisory role.
Busch was impressed with Weidman’s debut.
“He did a great job calling the race today,” he said. “We’ve got to say hey to the guys watching at home.”
Brad Keselowski was third. Scott Wimmer and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.
Points leader Clint Bowyer was involved in a pit-road accident with Edwards and David Reutimann at the halfway mark and severely damaged the front fenders of his No. 2 Chevrolet. But Bowyer rallied to finish 10th and holds a 186-point lead over Edwards.
“We’ve got to finish in front of Clint every week,” Edwards said. “I’d really like to just race him and beat him. He was running well and that (accident) kind of ruined his day. It worked out for us, but it won’t always work out like that if we keep running into people.”
Busch was cruising when Landon Cassill and Steven Wallace collided on lap 199 ó the race was scheduled for 200 ó which brought out the seventh caution and extended the race seven more laps. The race could have gone another seven or 70 laps and no driver would have caught Busch with the way he was running.
“It’s definitely been a phenomenal season, and something to really cherish,” he said.
Bliss hasn’t won this season and wished he could have had a shot at victory without Busch in the field.
“Why’d he pick this race to run,” said Bliss, chuckling. “We’re so close to winning. We’re going to get it.”
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DOVER, Del ó NASCAR has toughened its drug policy and will do random tests in 2009 on everyone in the three national series ó from star Chase drivers to anonymous tire changers.
All drivers, over-the-wall crew members and officials will be tested before the start of next season, and will also be subject to random tests throughout the year.
The amended policy for the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Trucks series kicks in at preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway.
“This is more of a reaction to the modern responsibilities that we also have, not just in NASCAR, but the whole community of sports,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said on Saturday. “I think the industry feels like that’s the right thing to do.”
NASCAR did not reveal a list of banned substances and it reserved the right to test for any substance ó anything from steroids to prescription medicines ó if there was suspicion of abuse. Under NASCAR’s current policy, testing is only done when there is a “reasonable suspicion” someone is using banned substances.
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s vice president of racing operations, noted that other professional leagues have changed their drug policies to adapt to perceived problems.
“We know there’s new drugs out there every day,” O’Donnell said. “By having a broad policy that doesn’t list anything, we feel like we can test for any substance that may be abused.”