Busch squeaks by Biffle to take the win!! Today’s Stater Bros. 300 got underway at Auto Cub Speedway with Joey Logano on the pole, and JGR teammate, Kyle Busch, starting alongside.  Logano would break out with the early lead, but within 9 laps, Busch laid claim to the top spot.  Logano reclaimed it two laps later, extending the gap between the frontrunners to 3 seconds by lap 17. Lap 20 of the 150 lap event found the top-ten running as #20 Logano, #27 Greg Biffle, #18 Busch, #11 Brian Scott (R), #33 Kevin Harvick, #32 Brian Vickers, #10 David Reutimann, #60 Carl Edwards, #1 James Buescher (R), and #12 Justin Allgaier. Within another five laps, Logano enjoyed more than a five second lead over the rest of the field.

The first caution of the day came on lap 33 for debris, and the leaders would pit. Logano maintained the lead off pit-road, followed by #11 Scott (R), #32 Vickers, #33 Harvick, #60 Edwards, #12 Allgaier, #18 Busch, #38 Jason Leffler, #27 Biffle, and #66 Steven Wallace. On the restart, Logano set out once again to separate himself from the field, but this time rookie Brian Scott stuck with him. By lap fifty, Logano and Scott had more than 2 seconds of track room over third place Kyle Busch. The balance of the top-ten was Harvick, Vickers, Edwards, #22 Brad Keselowski, Reutimann, Biffle and Allgaier. With a third of the race complete, there were 30 cars on the lead lap, four cars out, and media focus, #7 Danica Patrick, ran 35^th.

By lap 60, Scott had dropped back, and Logano was alone out front again. Green flag pit stops commenced on lap 78, and after the field cycled through, the top-ten leaders were Logano, Busch, Vickers, Harvick, Scott, Biffle, Reutimann, Brad Keselowski, Trevor Bayne, Leffler; and Danica had her second pit road speeding violation. Lap 86 brought out a second debris caution, and brought some of the leaders to pit road. Not to be outdone by Patrick, Carl Edwards also garnered a second speeding violation during this stop. The restart on lap 91 found Biffle as the leader, with Reutimann right behind. Brad Keselowski, Allgaier, Bires, Menard, Buescher (R), Vickers, Logano and Bayne made up the rest of the top-ten. By lap 99, Logano had forged back into the lead, ahead of Biffle, and with two-thirds of the race complete, the rest of the lead pack ran as Busch, Harvick, Reutimann, Allgaier, Scott, Bires and Vickers.

Kevin Harvick would head to the garage on lap 118 with a blown engine, and one lap later #6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun  and wrecked after sliding through the oil left by Harvick’s machine in Turns 1 and 2. Leaders would pit, and the exodus off pit road left Logano in the lead followed by Busch, Biffle, Vickers, Scott (R), Bayne, Bires, Keselowski, #98 Paul Menard, and Jason Leffler. Ten laps to go in the Stater Bros. 300 had no lead change; the top-ten were Logano, Busch, Biffle, Keselowski, Scott (R), Vickers, Edwards, Leffler, Bayne and Menard.

Lap 143 brought a blown tire for Menard, and one lap later, #62 Brendan Gaughan brought out the yellow after hitting the wall in Turn 3. A few cars, like Edwards and Bires, chose to pit with four to go. On the lap 150 restart for a green-white-checkered finish, Logano got shuffled back to fourth, and Busch got right on the rear bumper of Biffle. Post-race Logano blamed intentional contact from Biffle for his drop back; Biffle claimed Logano spun his tires on the restart, and came down into him. In the tenth closest NNS finish ever, Busch barely edged Biffle, and the #20 of Logano, who led 130 of 150 laps today, went spinning into the grass. The results for the top-ten for the Stater Bros. 300 were #18 Kyle Busch, #27 Greg Biffle, #2 Brad Keselowski, #60 Carl Edwards, #20 Joey Logano, #66 Steven Wallace, #88 Kelly Bires, #32 Brian Vickers, #12 Justin Allgaier, and highest finishing rookie-#11 Brian Scott. Danica Patrick finished 31st today, and in the championship points standings, Carl Edwards leads Joey Logano by 24 points. (J. Bready-THL)