DARLINGTON, S.C. - Kyle Busch overcame a penalty for a loose lug nut and several encounters with the wall to win Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Busch was penalized for a loose lug nut during an early race pit stop and was forced back to pit road.
But he was able to race his way back to the front of the field and by lap 163 had moved into 12th place.
It took 107 more laps before he was able to get around Jeff Gordon for the top spot and from there, he cruised to his third Cup win of the season.
“This is pretty awesome,” Busch said. “Darlington showed how tough it is tonight, and it’s always gonna be tough. I just have to thank my team.”
Busch's battered Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota rolled into victory lane looking like it had been through a demo derby at a local short track.
"We’re gonna go through a lot of tools fixing this thing this week,” Busch said.
"How many times did I hit the wall? I don’t know, one, two, three, four, probably five or six. I’ve got to thank my team, they build them as strong as they can for me, ‘cause I like to knock the walls down with them.”
The 23-year-old Busch became the youngest winner in Darlington Raceway's history.
Carl Edwards started 36th and was able to come all the way back to finish second.
“My hat’s off to Kyle and Steve (Addington, crew chief) - they had the fastest car,” Edwards said. “We wanted to beat them so bad. I hate second place, but I guess it’s good for points.”
Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and David Ragan rounded out the top five.
Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney and Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10.
Greg Biffle was in the hunt for a third Darlington win in the last four races, but mechanical failure took him out of contention on lap 234 after leading 95 laps.
"It's really frustrating," Biffle said. "But, you know what, I've just come accustomed to expecting it because it's just week after week it's something."
"This has been typical of our equipment, I guess. Loose wheels all night, bad vibration, then I think the motor blew up. All I want is equipment to drive that stays together."
It took only three laps for the first caution to fly when Elliott Sadler made a costly mistake when he got loose and spun up into Tony Stewart in Turn 1.
Sadler was quick to apologize for the incident.
"It was my fault," Sadler said. "I apologize to all of his fans."
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now heads to Lowe's Motor Speedway for Saturday night's All-Star Challenge.
