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Kyle Busch wins Sprint Cup LifeLock 400

Jul 13, 2008 - 5:31 AM JOLIET, Illinois (Ticker) -- It seems like a broken record, but Kyle Busch has a nose for Victory Lane.

In a Toyota Camry, Busch took the checkered flag at Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

For the 23-year-old Busch, it was the second second straight week in which he visited Victory Lane and the seventh time he has been victorious on the circuit this year.

"This is a dream season," Busch said.

The five-year pro averaged 133.996 miles per hour while leading for a total of 165 laps.

In a two-lap finish after the ninth caution of the night, Busch - who was in second on the restart - went to the outside of Jimmie Johnson and passed his Chevrolet as the white flag was waved to signal the final lap.

"As Jimmie was bringing us down slow on the restart, I kind of pushed him to go faster," Busch said. "On my pass, I had to go high because he was going to block me low."

The series points leader held off charges from the Impalas of Johnson and Kevin Harvick on the final four turns to collect his 11th career Sprint Cup win.

"On that last restart, I should have given Kyle the inside," Johnson said. "When I heard the spotter, I knew I was in trouble. For a two-lap shootout, the outside always wins.

"I didn't make the best decision there on the restart. I apologized to my guys and to everyone involved in Hendrick Motorsports."

The Las Vegas native became the second pole-sitter this season to win a Sprint Cup event. Kasey Kahne won the Pocono 500 on June 8 after qualifying first.

Busch has won an incredible 14 NASCAR races in 2008. Besides his seven on the Sprint Cup circuit, he has two victories on the Craftsman Truck Series and five on the Nationwide circuit - including Friday's win here in the Dollar General 300.

About the only thing that slowed down Busch on this night was the Chicagoland Speedway infield, where he got stuck while attempting to do donuts to celebrate his win. His No. 18 racer dug up huge divots before it stuck fast in the middle of the painted track emblem.

Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing crew came running out of the pits to give him a push as the trophy presentation was awaiting.

Johnson was second for his fifth top-five finish this season, while Harvick, who won the first two Sprint races on this track in 2001 and 2002, came in third.

"I really thought we had a shot at the win," Harvick said. "We were just a touch off of those two guys in front of us for most of the night and kept ourselves in position. I felt like we were better than everybody behind us."

Rounding out the top five were the Ford Fusion of Greg Biffle and the Toyota of defending champion Tony Stewart. Stewart also won here in 2004.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is second in the official drivers standings, finished 16th in a Chevy and now trails Busch by a whopping 262 points.

"It was a long night," Earnhardt said. "We started off not handling good and worked really hard even though we didn't make much out of the day. Our finish will look pretty bad on paper, but we ran about 28th all day so I was pretty happy to get top-15."