Kurt Busch held off Michael Waltrip to win the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday night.
Waltrip's No. 15 Chevy bumped the outside wall three times during the final laps trying to find room to pass, but Waltrip was unable to slip ahead of Busch's No. 97 Ford. The third scrap on the second-to-last lap ensured the victory for Busch, last season's Nextel Cup series winner.
Busch said he was well aware Waltrip was behind him: "He was tough; I couldn't believe it."
PHOTO: AFP
Waltrip ran a high line around the track and found his car handling differently from one corner to the next. Still, he held the lead for 23 laps in the 312-lap race. Busch, who led 219 laps, surged ahead for good on Lap 269, and Waltrip was content to trail for a while.
"I was patient until I couldn't hardly be patient any more and had to push the envelope," Waltrip said. He pushed into the wall, but not into the lead.
Waltrip finished 2.315 seconds back. Jeff Burton finished third, 8.567 seconds back in his No. 31 Chevy. Dale Earnhardt Jr. placed fourth, 9.743 back in his No. 8 Chevy. Brian Vickers, who pushed the race throughout, finished fifth, 10.521 back in his No. 25 Chevy.
The storyline heading into the race was that the setting Arizona sun would play a major factor. Unexpected thunderstorm clouds dashed that fear.
"It was no issue whatsoever," Burton said. "With all the talk of the sun setting and all that, there were zero problems."
The victory marked Busch's first victory since his New Hampshire sweep in September and his 12th in the Nextel Cup Series.
Waltrip, Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt shook up the race by taking the top three positions when Busch and other front-runners pitted during the seventh caution on Lap 207.
The problem started when Jimmie Johnson's Chevy tapped the back end of Tony Stewart's Chevy. Stewart spun and caused a chain reaction involving four or five other cars. The leaders ducked into the pits during the four-lap caution, while Waltrip and the others stayed out.
Rain began to sprinkle on lap 212, and the drivers contended with steady gusts of winds the rest of the night.
Busch and Greg Biffle ran nearly the entire first half of the race in first and second place, but Biffle called it a night on Lap 172 with radiator damage from a wreck on pit road.
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