Busch wins third straight on Nationwide Series
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY (AP) -If Kyle Busch keeps this up, he's going to have some difficult decisions to make.
Busch won his third consecutive race on NASCAR's Nationwide Series, taking the Corona Mexico 200 by less than a second Sunday. He's not committed to a full Nationwide schedule, but will he be able to resist a run at the championship?
''The consideration is there, but still, it's a race-by-race deal,'' Busch said. ''We'll make a decision here shortly. I love winning. I'll run as long as I can win. That doesn't bother me a bit.''
Busch wins no matter where he's racing these days. He's third in the Nationwide standings, second in Sprint Cup and first on the Truck Series. This latest win was the 27th of his career in NASCAR's top three series, and first on a road course.
Marcos Ambrose finished a career best second after a hectic day in which he collided with Boris Said, knocking Said out of the race. Said didn't leave quietly.
''He hooked my left rear in turn one,'' he said. ''He had me sideways for a while and then just turned me around. ... I'm not going to cry about it, but I'm going to go apologize to his crew chief because it's going to cost him a car.''
Ambrose's finish was his first top-10 finish of the year. He had six as a rookie in 2007.
Ambrose trailed by 1.139 seconds in his Ford with two laps to go, and Busch was able to hold on for a 0.737-second win.
''Just proud of the effort,'' Ambrose said. ''But I do want to say sorry to Boris, I didn't mean to get into him. I don't know if we just hooked up or what.''
Busch led for 22 of 80 laps, second to Scott Pruett's 36. Busch passed Pruett on the 72nd lap to take the lead.
''It's a pretty phenomenal job by these Joe Gibbs Racing guys,'' Busch said. ''Everyone wants to come down to Mexico and win it. Only one guy gets to go home with the trophy.''
In a race that included seven cautions and two red flags, Busch stayed out of trouble in his Toyota on the 2.518-mile course at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez before making his decisive move past Pruett. A year ago, Pruett was in a similar spot when teammate Juan Pablo Montoya sent him spinning. This year - at almost the exact same point in the race - it slipped away again.
''I was holding on pretty good, and then when Kyle came up behind me, he shoved me a few times, telling me he was getting anxious to go,'' Pruett said.
Busch said he was ready to make an aggressive move if necessary.
''I got on his outside and then he forced me off into the grass,'' Busch said. ''He was just blocking a little bit too much, I believe, and I think now I understand why he got dumped last year. If it came down to it, then it was going to be again.''
Pruett finished third, followed by Carl Edwards, who is second in the points standings. He's nine points behind Clint Bowyer, who finished sixth on Sunday.
The third-place finish was a career best for the 48-year-old Pruett, a road-course ace making his 10th Nationwide start. He finished fifth in Mexico City last year.
''We just didn't have a good enough car today. It was a good car, don't get me wrong, but last year we had a great car,'' Pruett said. ''We were giving it all we've got. We just ran out of car, ran out of tire.''
Pole-sitter Colin Braun barely had a chance to get comfortable before Pruett passed him at the start of the second lap. Braun, a 19-year-old making his third Nationwide start, finished 33rd.
Pruett led by more than 6 seconds before a caution brought him back to the field before the 66th lap.
Mexico's two biggest names were out of contention at the end. Michel Jourdain didn't finish, and Adrian Fernandez had to race with damage to the rear of his car after being hit by Sam Hornish Jr. on lap 49. Hornish finished 13th, one spot ahead of Fernandez.
Fernandez raced in the American Le Mans Series event in Long Beach, Calif., on Saturday before hustling back to Mexico City.
Jourdain was knocked out of this race in 2006 when he collided with Busch, and Busch was jeered by the crowd that year. This year's race had its share of accidents too.
''These guys were battling like it was coming to the end of the race, which it was, but we don't have V-8 super cars and we can't body slam each other out,'' Busch said. ''(Ambrose) spun two guys out on the restarts and somebody else spun (David Ragan) out and it was just mayhem. We had to keep making sure we missed all that stuff and got through it all.''