Biffle beat Leffler to the stripe by .338 seconds in a green-white-checkered-flag finish to win his second Nationwide race of the season and the 20th of his career. Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick completed the top five.

Biffle and Leffler finished 1-2 on old tires after 14 of 17 lead-lap cars came to the pits for at least two tires under caution on Lap 181.

In a dramatic reversal, Kyle Busch, who finished 10th, wrested the series points lead from Carl Edwards, who came home 33rd. Busch leads Edwards by 47 points as the series heads for Talladega on April 25.

The late-race strategic calls made the difference for both Leffler and Biffle.

“The pit and [crew chief] Eddie [Pardue] really won this race,” Biffle said. “That call at the end, I was with Eddie on staying out. I thought everybody came, and I thought I’d have new tires right on my bumper. All I needed was a couple cars [behind me on old tires], because these tires — once they cool down — I think I’d have been OK, if we went green the whole way. Once I was out front, my car was really good.”

Leffler said he couldn’t catch Biffle once he pulled away on the late-race restarts. Leffler was more worried about Keselowski, who took on right-side tires on his final stop, restarted fourth on Lap 185 and passed Burney Lamar for the third position.

“We were running eighth there, and they all pitted,” Leffler said. “We didn’t even think about pitting — track position was so important. There was going to be about 20 laps left, and in these Nationwide races, it seems like when you have 20 laps left, you’re only going to run about five under green.”

The fortunes of Busch and Edwards turned radically near the midpoint of the race. Busch had lost two laps during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 50 because of a slow leak in the right-front tire of the No. 18 Toyota.

Busch regained one lap under green, passing Edwards on Lap 95. At that juncture, Edwards reported a skip in his engine, which his team was unable to repair under caution. Busch regained his lost lap with a free pass as the first car one lap down under the fourth caution of the race on Lap 109.

Moments after the restart on Lap 114, Edwards brought his car to the garage, where the crew diagnosed a problem with a valve spring on the No. 60 Ford. Edwards lost 25 laps while the team, led by Roush, rigged a makeshift repair for the broken part.

While Edwards languished in the garage, Busch took advantage of his free pass, working his way back to eighth before NASCAR called the fifth caution of the race for debris on Lap 149. He restarted eighth on Lap 154 after a pit stop and gained two more spots on that circuit, before John Wes Townley’s's crash caused the sixth caution.

In the closing laps of the race, Busch faded to his 10th-place finish.

Hookscenter.com wire report.

Busch won his third consecutive Nationwide race in Texas with another dominating performance Saturday, leading a race-record 178 of 200 laps to win the O’Reilly 300 even though he insisted it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

“I was uncomfortable because of the handling of the car, just inconsistent at times,” Busch said. “My feet got hot. My body was fine, my back was OK, my head was fine.”

Still not enough problems to keep him from returning to Victory Lane.

Busch finished 1.447 seconds ahead of Tony Stewart, who made a late charge from seventh with four new tires after a caution on lap 188. Brad Keselowski, forced to start 42nd in a backup car, finished third.

The winning streak at Texas began with Busch sweeping both races last year when he led 300 of 400 laps. This time, he became the first polesitter to win any of the 17 Nationwide races at the 1½-mile, high-banked track.

Busch led the first 56 laps in his Joe Gibbs-owned Toyota, building a six-second lead over Jeff Burton before the first pit stop. Before a caution a dozen laps later, Busch had already regained a seven-second lead.

The only time Busch was passed on the track was when he got loose and Burton went by him on the 90th lap. By lap 106, Busch was back in front to stay.

Keselowski, who wrecked the primary No. 88 Chevrolet owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in qualifying, worked his way through the field and by lap 170 was second. And he was closing the gap when rookie John Wes Townley’s accident brought the final caution.

“The 88 was coming there at the end. He was catching me there,” Busch said. “If we did not get a caution like we did, it probably would have been a whale of a show.”

Busch didn’t go into the pit during the caution, shooting back on to the track after initially acting like he would. Keselowski stayed right behind him.

But Stewart did pit because he still had a new set of tires, and that was almost enough.

When the race restarted with seven laps left, Busch charged ahead while Keselowski and Joey Logano wound up side-by-side batting for second. But it was Stewart taking over second three laps later, though he didn’t have enough laps left to catch Busch without another caution.

“I got a good restart,” Keselowski said. “I was doing all I could to keep up with him.”

Logano fell back after making contact with series points leader Carl Edwards and finished 12th. Edwards was running fourth at the final caution, and maintained his points lead despite dropping to an 18th-place finish.

David Ragan ended fourth, followed by Paul Menard, Matt Kenseth, Mike Bliss and Jeff Burton. David Reutimann, on the pole for the Sprint Cup race Sunday, was ninth.

Hookscenter.com wire report.

Harvick led 44 laps in his Kevin Harvick Inc.-owned Chevrolet, his first victory in a car fielded by the race team he built with his wife.

“It is very emotional, he’s tried so hard, so long in his own stuff,” Delana Harvick said in Victory Lane. “Today was his day.”

Although Harvick has won three times in a KHI-owned Truck — in 2002, ’03 and ’08 — he’d yet to win a race in the more prestigious Nationwide Series. Tony Stewart won twice for him in that series, and Bobby Labonte once.

At Bristol, though, it was finally Harvick’s turn and he had a clear shot at the win after Kyle Busch was taken out of contention by a penalty on the final pit stop.

“It feels pretty good to get our car into Victory Lane,” Harvick said. “Finally we got this out of the way. Delana and I built this company from basically dirt. It started as a hobby. It’s been a tremendous amount of pressure that I’ve put on myself … but it was well worth the reward today.”

Harvick said his alternator failed during the race, making his cockpit almost unbearably hot as he rolled to the checkered flag.

Carl Edwards finished second and Clint Bowyer was third, and both credited Harvick for winning in his own car.

“To win in something that you build, I can only imagine what that feels like. That’s pretty special,” Edwards said.

Bowyer congratulated his Sprint Cup Series teammate, but also took a playful jab at the accomplishment.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Bowyer said. “Obviously, Kevin is qualified to win races. I knew it was only a matter of time. But forget him, I’m bummed I didn’t win.”

So was Busch, who led a race-high 157 laps but was taken out of contention when his crew let a tire slip away during the final pit stop. NASCAR sent Busch to the tail end of the longest line as punishment, and he was 14th on the restart with 41 laps to go.

“Ahhh, man, that’s frustrating,” Edwards said of Busch’s penalty.

“Was he mad?” Bowyer deadpanned.

Was he ever.

Although he rallied to finish sixth, he appeared furious after the race when he stopped his car in Turn 3 and walked directly to the pedestrian tunnel to leave the track.

“We just got a gift with Kyle getting that penalty,” Edwards said. “That’s a great points day for us.”

Edwards’ lead in the Nationwide Standings was stretched to 114 points over Harvick and 124 over Busch, who still gained two spots in the standings despite the setback.

Hookscenter.com wire report.

He overcame all of the miscues Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to snap his 76-race winless streak, partly because almost every other driver had similar issues while leading.

“It was definitely not short of action,” said Biffle, who last won a Nationwide race at California in February of last year.

Biffle ran out of gas while leading with 54 laps to go, re-claimed the lead after other drivers had their own issues, and then lost his fuel pressure on the final restart. Carl Edwards, his teammate, surged into the lead for a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish, but Biffle was able to regain the gas pressure and snatch the lead back from Edwards.

Edwards, who nearly lost control of his car as Biffle passed him, finished second despite losing a tire earlier in the race and speeding off of pit road on a late pit stop.

“Man it was a wild day from the beginning,” Edwards said. “We had a great race car. There were a lot of wrecks. We had that tire go down and we had a speeding penalty, all sorts of things happened and luck was on our side and we had a chance to race up there for the win.”

Brian Vickers, who was penalized for a missing lug nut after a pit stop while he was leading, finished third.

“All the fast cars were having problems,” Vickers said. “You are out here on this track trying to run wide open, and that’s going to lead to problems. But it seemed like everybody that got in the lead had a problem.”

Jason Leffler, who ran out of gas on the final restart, finished fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fifth. He was followed by Michael McDowell, Brendan Gaughan and Justin Allgaier. Scott Lagasse and Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10.

It seemed for a stretch that nobody wanted to win the race, evidenced by a slew of problems to the top contending cars.

The first sign of trouble came early, when Denny Hamlin spun just nine laps into the race. Later, teammate Kyle Busch wrecked while racing Kevin Harvick for the lead. The accident also collected pole-sitter Scott Speed.

“It was just 100 percent my fault for racing for the lead that early in the race,” said Busch, a Las Vegas native who is seeking his first career win at his home track. “I shouldn’t have been doing that that early in the race. I should have just rode around in second place all day and waited to make the move on the last lap.”

Biffle ran out of gas as the leader, which put Hamlin out front. Then Hamlin was too fast exiting pit road, had to return for a pass-through penalty, and was too fast again.

Hamlin’s mistake gave Vickers the lead, but he coughed it up when he left his pit stop with a missing lug nut.

Gaughan inherited the lead, then he spun trying to enter pit road to give David Ragan the lead. Edwards, who had rallied to third from an earlier punctured tire, was penalized for driving too fast off pit road. But as he tried to argue his penalty, Ragan wrecked on the track to take NASCAR’s attention.

“The team was really good and I just screwed it up for them,” Ragan said. “Just driving it too hard for the situation I was in.”

Allgaier, who had stayed out of trouble to put himself in position to make a late challenge for the lead, then scuffed the wall while running in the top 10.

When it was done, Biffle had cycled through to retake the lead. Hamlin, who had rallied to 11th, then brushed the wall to create damage to the front of his car. The damage ultimately caused his tire to burst as he drove in front of Mike Bliss, who ran into the back of Hamlin, sending him hard into the wall in a fiery wreck three laps from the finish.

The Hamlin accident set up the two-lap overtime sprint to the finish.

“I guess it just ends a day that I don’t understand,” Bliss said. “I can’t wait to go home.”

Hookscenter.com wire report.

Busch added a dominating NASCAR Nationwide Series victory under the lights to an overpowering truck win earlier in the day at Auto Club Speedway.

The 23-year-old speedster, who led 95 of 100 laps in winning the Camping World Truck Series race, was out front for 143 of 150 laps on the two-mile oval to earn his 22nd Nationwide victory. That made him the first driver to win races in two NASCAR national touring series in the same day.

Former series champion Carl Edwards beat Busch out of the pits on the last pit stops by the leaders Saturday night, but Busch powered back into the lead on the restart 16 laps from the end and pulled away.

“It’s awesome,” Busch said after climbing out of his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “This is just a blast. It’s pretty special to beat guys like Carl and Kevin Harvick. To win here twice in one day is even more special. … This was pretty close to a perfect day.”

Despite building leads of up to 11 seconds at times during the race, it all came down to the restart on lap 135 after Edwards beat Busch out of the pits by the length of the hood on his No. 60 Ford to take the lead and threaten to end Busch’s dominance.

But Busch wasn’t going to let that happen.

On the restart, Busch nudged Edwards and dove under him as Harvick, in third, made it three-wide for several seconds before Edwards slipped all the way to fifth. Busch easily led the rest of the way, beating Harvick to the finish line by 1.011 seconds – most of the front straightaway and almost the same margin he had in beating Todd Bodine in the truck race.

Busch’s JGR teammate Joey Logano held off a determined bid by Edwards to finish third in the Nationwide event.

“You know, it’s just racing,” Edwards said of the winning pass. “I couldn’t see behind me, but it felt like we were just racing real hard. I think I might have got touched, but he was going for the win and that’s what the fans pay for.

“Man, Kyle was just in a league of his own tonight, so it was tough to be able to hang with him for most of the night.”

Busch almost pulled off the double in July 2007 at Daytona when the Nationwide race was postponed by rain and run the morning of the Cup race.

“We were close to making it happen back then,” Busch said. “I won the Nationwide race and then I lost by I guess 3 or 4 inches or something to Jamie McMurray in the Cup race. That would have been pretty awesome to get it at Daytona because its our biggest stage. But now we’ll look forward to trying to win the triple.”

Busch will try for the unprecedented weekend sweep in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 Sprint Cup event.

“That would be incredible, but it’s going to be tough with Carl and Jimmie (Johnson) to beat,” said Busch, who along with Edwards are the only Cup regulars also planning to run the entire Nationwide schedule this year.

The victory came in the first race back for crew chief Jason Ratliff, suspended along with fellow crew chief Dave Rogers for the second half of last season after the Gibbs team was caught trying to manipulate the results of an engine dynomometer test at Michigan International Speedway.

“I’ve been dreaming about this,” Ratliff said. “It’s a heck of a way to come back. After what we experienced at the end of last season, that makes this win even more special.”

This was a distinctly different result from Daytona last week, when Busch failed to make a pair of last-lap passes work, finishing second to Bodine in the truck opener and falling to fourth after unsuccessfully trying to bump eventual winner Tony Stewart out of the way in Nationwide.

Busch also had the dominant car in the first part of last Sunday’s Daytona 500, leading 88 laps before being was caught up in the 10-car crash started by Dale Earnhardt and Brian Vickers on lap 125.

“Maybe we can make it happen this time,” Busch said. “We’re sure going to give it a shot.”

Hookscenter.com wire report.

Just five hours after Stewart stood brooding over his battered Daytona 500 car, he found himself celebrating a second straight season-opening Nationwide Series win at Daytona International Speedway.

“It was very disappointing this morning,” Stewart said after holding off Kyle Busch on the last lap to win the Camping World 300. “It was so frustrating I almost couldn’t see straight.”

The two-time Sprint Cup champion, who left Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the 2008 season to start his own Stewart-Haas Racing operation, had a very good week going until new teammate Ryan Newman’s tire blew Saturday morning, collecting his teammate and boss in the final practice before Sunday’s Great American Race.

Stewart was set to start fifth in the 500. Now, he and Newman must switch to backup cars and start from the rear of the 43-car field.

The wrecks prompted Stewart to criticize Goodyear for bringing a faulty tire to the superspeedway.

“I’m ticked right now. I’m not happy. I’m not cordial. I’m not nice,” Stewart said after practice.

It was temporary.

Stewart said his mood began to improve as he watched his new team quickly prepare the backup cars. As he got ready for the Nationwide race, his first time driving for car owner and longtime friend Rick Hendrick, he shifted his focus.

“When I went back to the bus and put this uniform on and saw Hendrick on it, you switch gears real quick in your mind,” Stewart said. “You realized that, hey, you’ve got a job to do and put what happened this morning behind you and focus on the task at hand.”

He certainly did that, passing 23 cars in 11 laps to get back into contention after pitting with 30 laps to go in the 120-lap event. Then he hung onto the lead as Busch, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer fought for position.

Stewart said it was his decision to pit for tires from third place on lap 91, giving up lots of track position. It turned out to be the key move of the race.

“I thought I made the worst call of the year,” said Stewart, who saw most contenders stay on the track. “It actually ended up saving us at the end, though. We were fortunate we were able to get through the pack like that.”

Brad Keselowski led several times and appeared to be one of the drivers to beat, but he banged off the wall on lap 108. Two laps later, his right rear tire blew, bringing out the last of six caution flags and setting up the dash to the finish.

Edwards led at that point, but Stewart, with help from Chevy driver Bowyer, pushed past into the lead after the restart on lap 114.

As the laps wound down, Stewart seemed to be a sitting duck, especially after Busch, who won 10 Nationwide races last year, moved into second place three laps from the end.

On the final trip around the 2.5-mile oval, Busch moved up to Stewart’s rear bumper and gave him a nudge. Stewart’s car wobbled and drifted high as Busch’s Toyota moved nearly alongside. Somehow, Stewart stayed just ahead of Busch. Then Edwards and defending series champion Bowyer went to the outside to pass Busch.

“What Kyle did was try to get me in a position where my car got loose, and I had to try to race it up the racetrack to give him the bottom,” Stewart said. “And that happened. (But) in doing so, he had to run up the racetrack, too. It wasn’t like he just ran us up into the fence. He didn’t do that.

“Kyle’s the type of guy that if you beat him, in a race like this, if you can win the race, you know you did everything a hundred percent right. Because, if you don’t do it a hundred percent right, he’s going to find a way around you. … I don’t know how we came off the corner ahead of him.”

Busch tried the same maneuver in the Camping World Truck Series opener Friday night, bumping Todd Bodine heading toward the third turn on the last lap. Like Stewart, though, Bodine was able to fend off the challenge and race on to the win as Busch finished second.

Saturday, Busch wound up fourth. He scrambled out of his car and ran to his team’s hauler without talking to the media.

Edwards, who won the Nationwide title two years ago, was surprised to find himself in the runner-up spot at the finish.

“Coming off (turn) four … Clint was right on my bumper and pushed me right by Kyle,” Edwards said. “He gave me like the half inch I needed there. I thought he was going to come out, and I was just going to blow through his right rear bumper.

“I had a little of a run on Tony. He came up and I thought, ‘Man, this is going to be smoke and walls and all that.’ But it ended up he gave me enough room, and I still ended up second. It was an exciting at least half a lap, at least for me.”

Greg Biffle finished fifth, followed by Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and David Ragan, giving Sprint Cup drivers the top eight positions. Nationwide regular Jason Keller was ninth.

Jason Leffler, another Nationwide regular, ignited a four-car crash just past the halfway mark in the race, banging into the rear of Steven Wallace and knocking Wallace sideways. Rookies Scott Lagasse Jr. and Justin Allgaier also were involved.

Leffler said he was just trying to let Wallace back in line, but NASCAR held him in the pits for five laps for aggressive driving.

Hookscenter.com wire report.

All Bowyer had to do to keep Edwards from winning a second straight title in the second-tier series was finish in the top eight. He did that easily, taking fifth to stay on top of the standings, right where he has been most of the year despite winning only one of 35 races.

“We’ve been consistent,” Bowyer said after climbing out of his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “We did the things it takes to win championships. I want to thank Richard for giving me the opportunity.”

Edwards wrested the lead from Kyle Busch late in the race and stayed out front to the end of the 200-lap event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He earned his seventh Nationwide victory and kept Busch from recording a record 11th series win.

Edwards did all he could in his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, other than getting the five-point bonus for leading the most laps, but it wasn’t enough.

“We’ve raced a long time, we’re both from the Midwest and he’s a good competitor,” Bowyer said of Edwards. “He’s last year’s champion and it feels really good to beat him.”

It was a disappointing finish for Edwards, who faces even bigger odds Sunday trying to make up a 141-point deficit against Jimmie Johnson in the Sprint Cup finale. Johnson can wrap up the title by finishing 36th or better, no matter what Edwards does.

“Man, that’s a great win, to be able to hold off that 18 (Busch’s No. 18 Toyota), as strong as that group has been,” Edwards said. “It’s no good to finish second, but I know Clint will be a great champion.

“Tonight went about as well as it could and, no matter what happens tomorrow, we’re going to go into the offseason knowing we’re going to be really good next year.”

Both Edwards and Bowyer, another Cup star, had consistent seasons. The difference was Bowyer rolled up 29 top-10 finishes and finished every race, while Edwards had 22 top-10s and failed to finish two races.

“It’s not tonight that decided this championship,” Edwards said. “It’s an all-season thing. We’ve got a great team here and on the Cup side. There’s no shame in finishing second.”

The 29-year-old Bowyer, who started the night with a 56-point lead, fell out of the top 10 several times in the first half of the race. He actually trailed Edwards in points several times, but his team used a two-tire pit stop during a caution just past the halfway point to get its driver into the top five, and he managed to stay there the rest of the race.

The last of eight caution flags in the race came out with nine laps remaining, making things a little more nervous for Bowyer.

“I knew Clint had to be sweating those last few laps knowing some of those guys behind him had (fresh) tires,” Edwards said. “But he did a good job of staying where he needed to be.”

The last four laps were run under the green flag and none of the top five positions changed as Edwards pulled away from Busch.

Bowyer said it was a nerve-racking race.

“The whole race we were three-wide, in traffic, behind, trying to catch up,” he said. “Carl did a good job of keeping the pressure on us. But we knew we had to just stick with it and stay smart, and that’s what we did.”

The driver championship was the fifth for Childress in the developmental series.

Rookie Joey Logano, Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, started from the pole and finished 10th. That wrapped up the car owner points championship for Gibbs in the No. 20 Toyota, a car also driven at times this year by Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. Bowyer wound up second in owner points, 12 behind.

Hookscenter.com wire report.

Neither is Matt Kenseth.

Kevin Harvick? Not quite over it.

Witnesses said Edwards and Harvick were in a heated argument Thursday in the Nationwide Series garage at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Edwards apparently walked into Harvick’s garage stall and the two engaged in a heated argument.

Harvick appeared to try to walk away, and witnesses said Edwards reached for his shoulder to turn him back on. Harvick then shoved Edwards, who stumbled onto the hood of Harvick’s car, and the two had to be separated.

Harvick was unavailable for comment.

Edwards didn’t deny the two argued, but wouldn’t discuss the incident.

“The deal with me and Harvick is between me and him and there’s nothing else to talk about,” he said. “I’m not talking about that. That’s just what it is. We know where each other stands and that’s it.”

Edwards triggered the late crash Sunday when he tried to push Biffle as the three Roush Fenway Racing cars competed raced for the lead. But his bumper hooked the corner of Biffle’s, sending Biffle into a slide directly into Kenseth.

Several championship contenders were caught in the melee, including Harvick, who had harsh words for Edwards and his strategy after the accident.

“I know that his fans won’t be very proud of him sitting back there riding around like a pansy,” Harvick said. “If he had been racing all day, maybe he would have known how long the front of his car was.”

Biffle and Kenseth were both upset with their teammate immediately following the accident, but both said they were over it by the time they got to Lowe’s.

“We can point fingers all day about what happened,” Biffle said. “He understands that he made a mistake and there’s nothing we can do about that now. Certainly he didn’t want to wreck himself, because that’s what he did, he wrecked himself.

“I don’t know what else to state about it, but I’m not mad at him.”

Kenseth, who argued with Edwards last fall at Martinsville, said he was initially upset about the accident but had moved past it.

“Our relationship is fine,” Kenseth said. “I was disappointed. I thought that Carl knew better. He’s been preaching the stuff about being careful and working together and teammates and all this stuff, so I was disappointed it happened, but yet it was an accident and that stuff will happen.”

Hookscenter.com wire report.

The 23-year-old NASCAR star was dominant Saturday night on the 2-mile oval at Auto Club Speedway, leading 144 of the 150 laps to race off with his seventh Nationwide Series victory of the season.

Busch easily held off Sprint Cup rival Carl Edwards on a pair of late-race restarts, piling up his record 18th NASCAR victory of the season, including eight in the Cup and three in the Craftsman Truck Series.

This one was one of the easiest of the season as Busch gave Joe Gibbs Racing its 15th Nationwide win of the year, including a victory in the February race here by teammate Tony Stewart, who led 136 of 150 laps. It was also the first win for the Gibbs Nationwide team since it was hit with seven suspensions, big fines and the loss of championship points for cheating on a chassis dyno engines test following the Nationwide race at Michigan.

“These guys got a bad rap a few weeks ago for what happened, but they don’t deserve it,” said Busch, who started from the pole. “This one means a lot. These guys have had a lot of adversity on them the past few weeks.”

Busch said his No. 18 Toyota was “flawless, really amazing.

“I think the biggest challenge was just being good on the restarts and getting away,” he added. “It just fun to run like this.”

Edwards, the defending Nationwide champion who is locked in a three-way points battle this season with leader Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski, finished second, followed by Brian Vickers, Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray, rookie Joey Logano and Bowyer.

Keselowski had a long stop for repairs after his engine quit and wound up 33rd. That left him in second, 204 points behind Bowyer and 18 ahead of Edwards.

“It was a great points night for us,” Edwards said. “Nobody was going to touch that (No.) 18. Those guys were scary fast. It was a lot of fun, but he was in a different zip code.”

Busch and Edwards are 1-2 in the Cup points and have been the two hottest drivers in NASCAR’s top series over the last few weeks, with Edwards winning three of the last four races and Busch finishing second to Edwards the last two weeks after winning the previous race.

Edwards bumped a dominating Busch out of the lead 30 laps from the end last week in the Cup race at Bristol, and the two then bumped each other on pit road, with NASCAR later putting both on probation for six races for the postrace incident.

Edwards gave Busch’s car a small bump on the rear as they drove slowly to pit road after the race.

“Oh yeah,” Edwards said. “I was just messing around with him. I couldn’t get to him to hit him all day. Even if I wanted to wreck him, I couldn’t because he was so fast. “He can have tonight,” Edwards added. “Tomorrow will be ours. We’ve won two in a row and I believe our car will be real good.”

Busch made his last pit stop under the green flag on lap 125. He came out of the pits behind the cars of Bowyer and Kelly Bires, who had not yet made their final stop. He was back in the lead three laps later and stayed there the rest of the way.

A crash by Chase Miller on lap 132 wiped out Busch’s 2.2-second lead and gave Edwards a shot at the leader on the restart on lap 136. But the Toyota easily pulled away from Edward’s Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

Debris brought out another caution on lap 139, this time erasing Busch’s 1.2-second margin. But, again, he pulled away steadily after the green flag waved for the final time on lap 143 and was a solid two seconds ahead before the race ended under caution after a crash by Josh Wise on the final lap.

Hookscenter.com wire report.

Bowyer dominated the race after he slipped by Dario Franchitti for the lead on lap 107, but appeared to wiggle exiting the second turn on the 227th lap as Keselowski went past him.

“We were dead equal, Clint and I,” Keselowski said after climbing from his car in the cloud of smoke of a just-completed burnout. “I needed to catch a break and he gave it to me.”

Car owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. greeted Keselowski after the finish.

“Victory Lane, Bristol,” the boss told his driver. “It gets no better than that, man.”

Bowyer, who has won just once, was dejected after leading 121 laps.

“It was good right up until whatever lap that was where I made a mistake,” he said, adding that he tried too quickly to get back on the gas coming out of the second turn. “It came out from underneath me there and I had to check up or I would have spun out.”

Bowyer quickly gathered his car and gave chase, but Keselowski held on, moving him closer to Bowyer atop the points standings after 29 of 35 races. Keselowski is now 122 points behind Bowyer, and Carl Edwards dropped to third.

Bowyer held on to finish second, followed by Greg Biffle, pole-sitter Cale Gale and David Stremme in a race that was slowed just five times by cautions, and for only 26 laps.

Bowyer has finished in the top 10 in 21 of 26 races, but with just one win.

“It’s been a frustrating two months for me,” Bowyer said. “It’s good when you can be frustrated with second, but we did give one away today. When you look at it, it was obvious.”

Hookscenter.com wire report.