Nationwide Series – Stater Bros 300 2/20/10

Kyle Busch took the checkers Saturday at Auto Club Speedway after a thrilling three-wide finale!

However, it was Busch’s JGR teammate, Joey Logano’s race to win. Logano lead all but 22 laps in the race.

photo credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

Logano went for a spin coming to the finish, but still finished 5th. He blamed runner-up finisher, Greg Biffle, for hard racing on the green-white-checkered restart.

“I don’t know what his deal is with me, but for some reason, in California, he feels like putting me in the fence or hitting me towards the end,” Logano said. “I know we were racing hard there at the end, but… don’t know… I think he could have done it a little cleaner than that.”

Biffle had a different point of view calling it “a rookie mistake”. “He spun his tires on the restart and couldn’t get going,” Biffle said. “If Joey hadn’t spun his tires on that last restart, I never would have had a chance at him. I had a front-row seat, and I was inside of him, and he came down the racetrack.”

“We got into (Turn) 3, and Keselowski put his nose in, and I thought we were going to wreck,” Busch said. “Somehow we held on to it. (Biffle) ended up getting a little bit loose, so I was able to get to his inside. Man, it was exciting there, coming to the finish.”

Busch knows how to get around at ACS. It’s his 3rd series win and his 6th combined NASCAR victory at the track.

Danica Patrick finished 31st three laps down in her second NASCAR outing. After the race, she walked to her hauler refusing to speak with media. It was said Juan Pablo Montoya gave her advice on how to get around the track the night before. He also was seen stopping by before she strapped into her car to wish her good luck. How well did she do? If you look at how some of the other open-wheelers finished in their first series race at Auto Club Speedway, she fared a-o.k. Montoya finished 39th in his first series race there while Sam Hornish Jr. was 35th. Dario Franchitti finished 24th in his first race at the track.

“I’m a competitor, and I’m used to running up front,” Patrick said Saturday night before leaving the race track. “It’s shocking when you get that far back. But you know what? This is a whole new ball of wax for me, and it’s all different, and I have to disconnect from the result for quite some time I think, because they’re probably not going to be what I’m used to.”

For the (unofficial) race results, click here.

There were 4 cautions for 18 laps and 12 lead changes among 7 drivers: J. Logano 1-7; K. Busch 8-10; J. Logano 11-79; Brad Keselowski 80; J. Allgaier 81; J. Buescher # 82-84; J. Logano 85-88; G. Biffle 89-99; J. Logano 100-121; M. Wallace 122; J. Logano 123-150; G. Biffle 151; K. Busch 152

Carl Edwards leads the point standings by 24 points over 2nd place, Joey Logano.