By Pete Iacobelli
Associated Press
DARLINGTON, S.C. ó Regan Smith moved in front on a caution nine laps from the end and survived a green-white-checker finish to win the Southern 500 for his first Sprint Cup victory Saturday night.
Smith held off Carl Edwards the final two laps at Darlington Raceway in a race that turned ugly late when Kyle Busch tangled with Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer to set up the overtime finish.
After the race, Harvick tracked down Buschís car, stopped in front of Busch on pit road, then got out of his car and attempted to punch or grab Busch through his window. Busch then slammed into Harvickís driverless car, sending it crashing in the inside wall.
Harvick and Busch then stared down each other from their cars as they entered the garage before a standoff that looked as if it might erupt further. It finally ended when Busch bumped Harvick several times to make space to drive off. Both drivers were summoned to the NASCAR hauler.
Brad Keselowski finished third, pole-sitter Kasey Kahne was fourth and Ryan Newman fifth.
Edwards appeared to be cruising to his first Darlington victory with 10 laps remaining in what had been about 490 miles of relatively calm racing. Instead, things changed when Jeff Burton brought out the 10th and final caution, setting up a restart with five laps left and many of NASCARís best not far from the lead.
Busch, Harvick and Bowyer wound up three-wide in a space where that doesnít work and Bowyer was sent sprawling into the interior wall. As cars spun out behind, Busch veered down the track and sent Harvick spinning.
Smith bobbled slightly on the final lap, but regained control and took off for the victory. He was in tears in victory lane, winning for the first time in 105 Sprint Cup starts.
ěWeíve had some ups and weíve had some downs, this is an up,î Smith said.
Smithís landmark win, though, will likely be overlooked with the dustup between Harvick and Busch, who have a history. Harvick admittedly wrecked Busch on purpose late in last seasonís finale at Homestead as retaliation for earlier contact.
ěJust uncalled for. Just unacceptable racing,î Busch said. ěYou know, itís in the last couple of laps but I gave him room off of two, I didnít get the room. Just real unfortunate. I hate we tore up a few good cars there.î
Busch said the talk in NASCARís hauler was not a big deal. ěGood to hash it out now. Might as well,î he said.
The spotlight figured to be on Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya, who tangled at Richmond International Raceway a week earlier ó a feud that continued into this week at Darlington.
But those two mostly stayed away from each other. Montoya did get into five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson early on. Montoya apologized for tagging Johnson. ěI bet heís sorry,î Johnson responded.
Before the end, the most frightening incident came when the nose of David Raganís car peeled off the sheet metal on the left side of Brian Vickerís machine, leaving a long trail of debris.