Busch wins Nationwide at Phoenix

Busch had started the race from pole position and had an intense race-long battle with Edwards, which went all the way to the last lap.

For a moment the event seemed to be turning into a fuel gamble for the frontrunners until a caution flag with 23 laps remaining allowed them to pit for four tyres and fuel. On that last stop Busch jumped Edwards for the lead, which he held to the chequered flag under intense pressure.

"Carl and I had a great duel out there," Busch said. "It was really a lot of fun to battle it out. He probably had a better car than us for about the last five of fifteen laps. Our car was good; it just wasn't the best it could be. Especially early in the race it was awesome.

"But towards the end of the race, the guys kept making adjustments and kept their cars getting better and better and we made some gains on ours but not as much as they did."

"I'm glad that we had the cautions that we did there in the end. They probably helped us get to victory lane."

Busch had a visibly loose car in the closing laps but he once again showed to be a master of getting the most out of it in those conditions. He ran a higher line to try to keep his momentum through the turns, while Edwards' car seemed to be in better shape.

With five laps remaining Edwards was right on Busch's rear bumper and working on that crucial pass to steal victory away from the Gibbs' driver, but Jeff Burton crashed with only three laps left, bringing out the caution flags and saving Busch from imminent attack.

"I needed a couple more laps," a disappointed Edwards said. "I didn't need that last caution. We had a good run and the car was great. I just hate to lose that thing. I'm glad we get to race tomorrow because it's going to be hard to sleep tonight. Running second is no fun."

Denny Hamlin drove the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car to third place ahead of Kevin Harvick Incorporated's Kevin Harvick while David Ragan had his best race of the season taking fifth in his Roush Fenway Ford.

Among the Richard Childress Racing cars, Stephen Leicht was the highest finisher in the No. 21 machine taking eighth place just one better than points leader Clint Bowyer and Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann. Ahead of them was Mike Bliss as the best of the non-Cup regulars.

Dario Franchitti had a good race on his second outing in the Nationwide Series at Phoenix, finishing in 11th place for the second week in a row, charging through the field in the second half of the race after being penalized for a lug nut that was off on the team's first pit stop.

"The car was not bad tonight," Franchitti said. "It wasn't as good as some of the cars. We struggled a little bit through the center of the corner but we were easily a top-ten car. But we had a lug nut issue on the first stop and that lost us track position and after that it was just hard work just trying to take it one person at a time.

"It was just so difficult to gain an advantage but we fought our way back and ended up 11th again. Not a bad night."

Clint Bowyer has seen his lead in the points narrow to reigning Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards, while Kyle Busch has moved up to third in the drivers' standing, although he is still not expected to contest every race.

However, he will be one of the drivers crossing the border south next weekend, when the Series make their fourth annual visit to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City for the first road-course event of the year.

Franchitti will not race in Mexico and Scott Pruett will drive his car instead.

Pos  Driver                Car        Laps
 1.  Kyle Busch            Toyota      202
 2.  Carl Edwards          Ford        202
 3.  Denny Hamlin          Toyota      202
 4.  Kevin Harvick         Chevrolet   202
 5.  David Ragan           Ford        202
 6.  Mike Bliss            Chevrolet   202
 7.  Stephen Leicht        Chevrolet   202
 8.  Clint Bowyer          Chevrolet   202
 9.  David Reutimann       Toyota      202
10.  David Stremme         Chevrolet   202
11.  Dario Franchitti      Dodge       202
12.  Brad Keselowski       Chevrolet   202
13.  Bobby Hamilton Jr     Ford        202
14.  Jason Leffler         Toyota      202
15.  Mike Wallace          Toyota      202
16.  Steve Wallace         Chevrolet   201
17.  Marcos Ambrose        Ford        201
18.  James Buescher        Toyota      201
19.  Kelly Bires           Ford        201
20.  Kenny Wallace         Chevrolet   201
21.  Chase Miller          Dodge       201
22.  Landon Cassill        Chevrolet   201
23.  Brad Coleman          Ford        201
24.  Kyle Krisiloff        Dodge       200
25.  Kertus Davis          Chevrolet   200
26.  D.J. Kennington       Dodge       200
27.  Robby Gordon          Dodge       199
28.  Kevin Lepage          Ford        199
29.  Eric McClure          Chevrolet   199
30.  Robert Richardson     Chevrolet   194
31.  Jeff Burton           Chevrolet   192
32.  Jason Keller          Chevrolet   181
33.  John Borneman         Ford        167
34.  Morgan Shepherd       Dodge       127
35.  Derrike Cope          Chevrolet    55
36.  Jamie McMurray        Ford         39
37.  John Young            Ford         32
38.  Johnny Chapman        Chevrolet    19
39.  Larry Gunselman       Chevrolet    16
40.  Mike Harmon           Chevrolet    12
41.  Mike Potter           Chevrolet     9
42.  Brett Rowe            Chevrolet     7
43.  Scott Gaylord         Ford          2