Crafton and Coulter were engaged in a spirited game of cat-and-mouse over the final 20 laps, but Crafton held onto his truck-length lead as they crossed the start-finish line, allowing him to celebrate his first win since Iowa in 2011 with a burnout that tore up one of his rear tires.

Coulter chased him across to finish second. Ryan Blaney got around Brendan Gaughan on the final lap to finish third, and Johnny Sauter rounded out the top five.

There were 11 cautions during the race, and a red flag flew for about 12 minutes after Brennan Newberry and Todd Bodine were involved in a wreck that scattered debris all over the track.

The post Matt Crafton wins at Kansas appeared first on IdealCapper.

With a shot at grabbing his first Nationwide Series win Saturday, he wasn’t going to make that same mistake again.

Especially not against Kyle Busch.

Larson stalked Busch over the closing laps around Bristol Motor Speedway waiting to make a move. It came as they closed in on the finish line, and Larson made a last-gasp push on the high side that fell just short as Busch held on for his second win of the season.

But in chasing the win the right way, the 20-year-old Larson cleaned up some of the criticism that had followed him from Daytona last month after spinning C.E. Falk III on the final lap of the “Battle at the Beach” late model race.

“You certainly want to try to win races the right way,” Busch said. “He played it smart today. That was good on his end. I think a lot of people have been looking at him to try to see if he’s going to be to a wrecker or a checker. Today he didn’t get the checkers, but that’s how you get them. You drive into the corner, or drive into the back of me, I’m going to be here for a while and if he keeps coming up through the ranks, he’s not going to have fun dealing with me every week.

“But right now? I’m going to race him as hard as he raced me, but just as clean as he raced me because he didn’t put a fender on me all day.”

Larson had his win over Falk in the back of his head during the closing laps at Bristol as he looked for a place to try to grab the win. Although he has received high praise from Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne as NASCAR’s next big star, his move in the “Battle of the Beach” caused many top Sprint Cup drivers to openly criticize Larson.

“I was pretty aggressive at the ‘Battle of the Beach’ and I didn’t want to have anything like that happen again and have more people look at me,” Larson said. “I don’t race that way and didn’t want to move (Busch). I wanted to outrace him. I’d gain a little more respect that way, and it made for a better finish, I think.”

Indeed it did, as both drivers closed in on lapped cars as they neared the finish line. Busch chose the low line and Larson went high, then tried to squeeze his way past Busch. Larson’s car bounced off of both the wall and Busch’s car, but he was nipped at the finish line by Busch by .023 seconds.

“He’s got a lot of talent,” Busch said. “Obviously, he’s already made a name for himself and he’s got a lot going for him. I’m 27 and I feel like I’m getting old. Every time I looked in the rear view mirror he caught me, so I stopped looking. I didn’t want to know where he was at.”

It was Busch’s fifth career Nationwide victory at Bristol, tying him with Kevin Harvick for the most in the series. Busch has a series-record 53 wins, and two in the last four weeks after going winless last season.

Brian Vickers was third and was followed by Nationwide Series points leader Sam Hornish Jr. and Harvick.

The post Busch wins Bristol battle of Kyles appeared first on IdealCapper.

After a miserable week at Daytona, Edwards had plenty to celebrate.

That it came at Phoenix International Raceway only seemed fitting.

Coming through on his promise to dominate after his Daytona disaster, Edwards pulled away on a late restart and snapped a 70-race winless streak on Sunday, the second long drought he’s ended at Phoenix.

“This win feels as good or better as any win I’ve ever had,” Edwards said.

Edwards had a rough 2012 season, missing the Chase for the championship. His downward spiral continued at Daytona, where he wrecked five cars. On his way out of Florida, Edwards said he was ready to dominate and win at Phoenix.

He did just that, leading the final 78 laps on the 312-lap race around PIR’s odd-shaped oval in the first non-restrictor-plate race with NASCAR’s new Gen-6 car.

Edwards got a good push from defending Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski on the restart with two laps left and pulled away from there, winning for the first time since Las Vegas in 2011.

After parking his car at the finish line, Edwards landed his first backflip in nearly two years and celebrated with the fans — just like he did at PIR after ending another 70-race winless streak in 2010.

“I’m sure it’s a relief for someone like Carl,” said Denny Hamlin, who finished third and had a long winless streak end at Phoenix last year. “He’s now relevant again, he really is and it’s a good sign for their race team for things to come.”

The big duel came behind Edwards.

Despite struggling with his car most of the day, Hamlin made a bold move on the last lap with a pass on the apron below the dogleg. He popped up alongside Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson and the two drag-raced to the finish, where Johnson edged him by a few inches.

Keselowski, who was outside Johnson during Hamlin’s move, finished fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended up fifth.

“As far down as I was, I was committed, there was nothing that I was going to do where I would back out,” Hamlin said. “I just hoped I would have just slid in front of the 48, then you risk getting punted and spun, and your whole day you’ve worked everything for is taken away in a corner. I held my line and thought I really did the right thing and gave those guys room to pass me back — and one of them did.”

The last Phoenix race, in November, set up Keselowski for his first Sprint Cup title after Johnson blew a tire. It also featured quite a sideshow.

A running feud between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon boiled over late in the race, setting off a brawl in the pits and Bowyer on a WWE-style dash to Gordon’s hauler.

The drivers tried to downplay the confrontation after arriving in the desert this week, but it’s been hard to avoid, with video of the scrap-and-dash being shown all over in promos for the race and replays.

Ryan Newman had the only dash this time around, running across the track and away from his car after it blew a right-front tire for the second time in 140 laps.

Inside his car, Mark Martin failed in his bid to become the oldest Sprint Cup winner.

The 54-year-old became the second-oldest driver to start on the pole in a Sprint Cup car, a few months short of Harry Gant’s mark. Martin led the first 49 laps and 26 more later on, but couldn’t sustain it in his bid to become the oldest Sprint Cup winner, finishing 21st.

“Obviously, it’s a disappointing result for a great effort on the weekend,” Martin said. “The car was pretty fast, but we had multiple problems today.”

So did Danica Patrick, who had a rough follow-up to her breakthrough week at the Daytona 500.

Patrick became the first woman to win a pole and lead green-flag laps during NASCAR’s season opener, sending her popularity to a new level.

But she couldn’t stay with the leaders at Phoenix, ending her day with one of the hardest hits of her career. It happened with about 100 laps left, when the right-front tire on Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet went down and slammed her into the wall.

Patrick’s car careened back into David Ragan, flipping her hood over the windshield and shredding the left front fender as protective foam from the driver’s side door flew onto the track.

She came to a stop along the inside wall with a trail of debris covering about half the home straightaway behind her. She climbed from the car and was quickly cleared by the medical center.

“Whenever those right-fronts go, they always hit hard because you don’t broadside, you hit more straight on,” said Patrick, who finished 39th. “It took a hard hit both sides and I’m fine, so NASCAR is doing a good job at safety. But no real good warning. The car wasn’t all that tight and most of the (problems) were in the rear, so there was no real vibration that told me that was going to happen.”

Edwards set himself up for this victory with a late-night call to new crew chief Jimmy Fennig, knocking on his door around midnight Saturday to go over some last-minute details. For race morning, Edwards went for a hike to clear his mind and get focused.

It paid off, ending two years of frustration and self-doubt that grew as the streak grew.

“Last year we didn’t even make the Chase,” Edwards said. “For me to sit home while everybody was at the Chase stuff and in Vegas, that was a little bit of a shock to me and I did not like that at all. To get a victory puts us in better position to be in the Chase, it just feels good to win and I’m just very glad to be here.”

The post Carl Edwards ends 70-race drought appeared first on IdealCapper.