Compliments of NASCAR, Inc.

DARLINGTON, S.C. -May 11, 2008- The high speeds and new pavement at Darlington Raceway didn't bother Kyle Busch one bit.

If a wall got in his way, the Sprint Cup points leader just bounced off and kept going. And after his primary competition, polesitter Greg Biffle, left the race with a blown engine, it was clear sailing for Busch, who cruised to the win in Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500 Sprint Cup race.

At a track-record average speed of 140.350 mph, Busch, who led a race-high 169 laps, pulled away after a restart on Lap 308 of 367 and ran away from the rest of the field en route to his third Cup win of the season and the seventh of his career.

One week removed from last Saturday's controversial finish at Richmond, where Busch spun Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a late-race battle for the lead, Busch finished 3.115 seconds ahead of runner-up Carl Edwards and extended his lead in the Cup standings to 79 points in front of second-place Jeff Burton.

Jeff Gordon was third Saturday night, followed by Earnhardt and David Ragan. Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney and Burton completed the top 10.

"Luckily, the team gave me a really strong car tonight, because I like to knock the wall down," quipped Busch, who recovered from a loose lug nut that brought him back to the pits on Lap 60 and cost him track position. "We had a really good piece tonight."

Gordon had a close-up view of Busch's contact with the wall -- until Busch pulled away.

"I can't tell you how many times he [Busch] tried to give the race away by hitting the wall," Gordon said. "You wouldn't believe how torn up the right side of his car was."

Whether Busch's car was torn up or not, Gordon knew his No. 24 Chevrolet was no match for the No. 18 Toyota.

"We didn't have a car that could get up there and challenge for the win, so we just brought it home in one piece," said Gordon, who jumped from 13th to 10th in the championship standings. "The No.18 was in an unbelievable class of his own. Carl and his crew got their stuff better there at the end.

"We tried and tried and tried a lot of things, and every time we got it a little bit better. But every time we tried to get it better than that, we went the wrong way with it. So, we just had to settle for a car that was a third-place car and hope we could get track position -- and we did."

Edwards, who is tied with Busch for a series-best three victories this season, likewise had nothing for the 23-year-old driver, who became the youngest winner in Darlington history.

"I wanted to beat him real bad," said Edwards, who gained three spots to seventh in the points standings. "Now we're tied for most wins."

Biffle had the dominant car for the first two-thirds of the race, despite pitting early on Lap 194 with a loose right rear wheel. By Lap 210, Biffle had regained the lead as pit stops cycled through, but he brought the car to pit road again on Lap 224, this time with a blown engine. Biffle finished 43rd.

"I had loose wheels all night," said Biffle, who led 95 laps before his early exit. "Then I think the motor blew up. All I want is equipment that stays together."

Fourth-place starter Tony Stewart lost his bid to win his first Cup race at Darlington on Lap 2, when contact with Elliott Sadler's Dodge sent the No. 20 Toyota into the Turn 1 wall. Stewart finished 21st, one lap down.


FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
28 18 00 Michael McDowell * Toyota Brain Cancer Action Week 79/0 363 Running
14 22 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 126/5 367 Running
29 16 01 Regan Smith * Chevrolet DEI / Principal Financial Group 76/0 362 Running
12 5 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 132/5 367 Running
35 29 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Kellogg's / CARQUEST 58/0 340 Running
5 15 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance 160/5 367 Running
15 38 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 118/0 367 Running
33 40 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Jim Beam 64/0 360 Running
16 27 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 115/0 367 Running
22 42 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 102/5 365 Running
40 43 10 Patrick Carpentier * Dodge LifeLock 48/5 262 Out of Race
7 21 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Ground 151/5 367 Running
37 32 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Alltel 52/0 294 Running
36 41 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet NIBCO / Menards 55/0 339 Running
43 1 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 39/5 234 Out of Race
6 34 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT NANO Technology 155/5 367 Running
1 6 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Mint Crisp M&M's "Indiana Jones" 195/10 367 Running
42 7 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge McDonald's 37/0 246 Running
21 4 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 100/0 365 Running
30 20 21 Bill Elliott Ford Motorcraft 73/0 362 Running
9 13 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 138/0 367 Running
3 8 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 170/5 367 Running
11 25 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 135/5 367 Running
8 24 28 Travis Kvapil Ford LaFayette Ford 147/5 367 Running
39 11 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 46/0 264 Running
10 12 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 134/0 367 Running
20 33 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditRep
ort.com 108/5 367 Running
34 14 40 Sterling Marlin Dodge Dodge Challenger 61/0 349 Running
32 39 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 67/0 361 Running
23 19 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Wrigley's Big Red 94/0 365 Running
18 10 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 109/0 367 Running
19 30 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 106/0 367 Running
41 35 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil 40/0 249 Running
13 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 124/0 367 Running
24 37 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 91/0 364 Running
17 9 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet State Water Heaters 112/0 367 Running
38 23 77 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge Mobil 1 49/0 269 Running
31 17 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 70/0 362 Running
25 28 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 88/0 364 Running
27 26 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 82/0 363 Running
4 2 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Mountain Dew / AMP Energy / Nat'l Guard 165/5 367 Running
26 31 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 90/5 364 Running
2 36 99 Carl Edwards Ford Claritin 170/0 367 Running

* Denotes Rookie


News and Notes:

• Ragan climbed two spots in the Cup standings to 12th, the last Chase-eligible position. Ryan Newman (37th) and Kasey Kahne (22nd) fell out of the top 12.
• Blaney's No. 22 Toyota supplanted the No. 77 Dodge of Sam Hornish Jr. (38th) in the top 35 in the owner points standings. Blaney won't have to qualify on speed at Charlotte in two weeks. Hornish will.
• The average speed of 140.350 mph broke the record of 139.958 mph set in March 1993 by the late Dale Earnhardt.





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