Busch On The Verge Of Clinching Nationwide Title
POSTED: 12:43 pm PST November 13,
2009
Avondale, AZ -- (Sports Network) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, November 14. Race: Able Body Labor 200. Site: Phoenix International Raceway. Track: one-mile oval. Start time: 4:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 200. Miles: 200. Defending winner: Carl Edwards. Television: ESPN 2. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS XM Satellite.Kyle Busch is on the brink of winning his first NASCAR national touring series championship. Busch holds a 247-point lead over Carl Edwards with two races to go. If he leaves Phoenix with at least a 195-point advantage over the second-place driver, he will wrap up the Nationwide Series title. "It's pretty cool," Busch said. "I wish I could have gotten it done as soon as possible, but as soon as possible is going to come [this] week." Earlier this week, NASCAR penalized Busch 25 points and fined his crew chief Jason Ratcliff $5,000 for a rules violation that occurred last week at Texas Motor Speedway. Busch's No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was found to have improperly attached weight during pre-race inspection. Busch won last Saturday's race at Texas. Edwards finished ninth. Busch once again will attempt to win all three of NASCAR's races this weekend. He won the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series events at Texas, but finished 11th in Sunday's Sprint Cup race after running out of fuel and giving up the lead to his brother, Kurt, with less than three laps to go. Kevin Harvick and Kevin Conway also will pull triple duty at Phoenix. Busch has finished 10th or better, including two victories, in the last four races at Phoenix. He also has led a least one lap in three of those four races there. Edwards won at Phoenix one year ago. The Roush Fenway Racing driver led the final 78 laps and held off a hard-charging Denny Hamlin in an over-time finish. Busch finished fifth. Greg Biffle has the most wins at Phoenix with three. Biffle, whose third victory there came earlier this year, is not entered in Saturday's race. Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Able Body Labor 200. Jason Bowles, the 2009 Camping World Series West champion, will make his series debut at Phoenix, driving the No.61 Ford. Bowles will miss his championship awards banquet, held in Concord, NC on Saturday, in order to race. "For this weekend in my first start, my goals are to first finish the race, and I think a top-20 finish is reasonable," Bowles said. "The biggest thing I need to show is that I am capable of running at this level and taking care of the equipment."
Copyright 2009 Courtesy of The Sports Network.






