NASCAR Nationwide Race Ends in a Photo Finish

The NASCAR Nationwide series raced at Bristol Saturday and man did they put on a show! From big hits to epic battles and even a few tempers flaring, this 300 lap event kept you on the edge of your seat from the green flag to the checkered! Here is a recap of all the action in case you missed it.

Justin Allgaier led early on before the first caution flew for Jamie Dick spinning off the nose of points leader, Sam Hornish Jr. Allgaier continued to lead until the second caution for a single car spin by Brad Sweet. Everyone pitted and Trevor Bayne won the race off of pit road after taking two tires. 4-time Bristol winner, Kyle Busch took the first position away from Trevor a few laps after the restart and preceded to drive away. Elliott Sadler started having problems with his car and took it to pit road after NASCAR black flagged him for not maintaining minimum speed.

MAR 16, 2013; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Nationwide Series driver Kyle Busch (54) does a burnout after winning the Grit Chips 300 Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

While negotiating lap traffic a third of the way through the event, Brian Vickers hooked Jamie Dick into the inside wall which looked like a single car incident until Nelson Piquet Jr. came barreling into the wreck destroying his TSM Camaro. Kyle Busch led the field back to the green flag and maintained the top spot for over 40 laps before the next big crash struck. Hal Martin thought he had cleared Brad Teague off the corner but was hooked when he tried to slide up in front of the lap car. He went crashing into the inside wall hard and flying back up the track into on-coming traffic. 4th generation racer, Jeffrey Earnhardt hit Martin pushing him back down the track collecting Reed Sorenson who was substituting for the injured, Michael Annett. Austin Dillon was also involved while points leader Sam Hornish Jr. barely escaped getting swept up in the pileup.

They went back racing after a lengthy cleanup and Brad Keselowski worked his way around Kyle Busch to take the lead. He was being challenged by Regan Smith for 1st as they approached the 200 lap mark. Contact was made causing a tire rub on the 22 who maintained the lead while Smith slipped back to 4th. A few laps later, Brad’s left front tire blew sending him hard into the wall off of turn 2 and bouncing into the door of Kevin Harvick who was lucky to make it through with only minor damage.

Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch battled ferociously for the win late in the race as they navigated through the slower traffic which allowed rookie, Kyle Larson to creep up into the picture. After some incredible racing between the three, the caution flew for the 8th time. Kyle Larson had some right front damage after contact with a lap car but it didn’t seem to hurt his performance. Kevin Harvick opted to pit from 2nd position for 4 fresh tires with 35 laps remaining setting up the Kyle and Kyle show.

There was never another caution flag and Harvick was only able to get back up to 5th. Larson gave it all he had but it seemed like Kyle Busch had it until he shockingly left the outside open in the final corner. Larson took advantage and we had a drag race to the stripe. Larson bounced off the wall and door slammed Busch but it wasn’t enough to steal the win. KB won by a 2 hundredths of a second; the equivalent of about a hood length. In the pits after the race, Justin Allgaier stuck his head in the window of Chris Buescher to give him an ear full after Chris knocked him out of the way in the final corner for 7th spot. The unofficial top 10 is Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Brian Vickers, Sam Hornish Jr., Kevin Harvick, Regan Smith, Chris Buscher, Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman and Brian Scott. Sam Hornish continues to lead the standings by 22pts over Allgaier.