NASCAR Busch Series: Busch Spins, Burton Wins Sam's Town 300

Despite overheating problems, Tony Stewart finished third.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

LAS VEGAS - Jeff Burton passed Kyle Busch on the final lap to win Saturday's Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at Las Vegas Motorspeedway.

The race, slowed by a record 12 caution flags, came down to the final lap when Burton caught Busch and passed him on the outside in Turn 4.

Busch's car wiggled slightly as Burton made his pass and he spun as Burton crossed the finish line.

"I couldn't hold the bottom, I couldn't hold the top - I was all over the place, trying to keep the lead if I could keep it," Busch said of the wild finish. "I blocked the bottom so he couldn't get underneath me getting into Turn 3 on that last lap. I started drifting up the hill, trying to squeeze him and I just didn't do it good enough. He had the momentum to pass me -- he got the side draft and I started getting back out of it and I knew it was going to be too late. I ended up wrecking a really good race car."

After the race, Kyle exited his car and appeared to be headed for a confrontation with the race winner.

Burton circled his car and drove over to Kyle's, but the younger Busch brother was not there.

Burton caught up with Kyle and the crowd prepared for the inevitable exchange of not-so-pleasantries. But such was not the case -- the pair ended up shaking hands instead.

"He couldn't hear me and I couldn't hear him," Burton admitted. "I just wanted to acknowledge to him that I appreciated him giving me room. There really weren't any words spoken, to be flat honest with you.

"I was never in a position to be saving. He had the best car in the middle portion of the race. He drove away. The last 30% of the race, I thought we had the best car. We were coming on him pretty hard, then the caution came out, then we got by him.

"I like it when it's like this. I hope it's 90 degrees tomorrow. That's when the team and the driver, working together, can accomplish something that you can really take a lot of pride in. For some reason, my car just liked hot tires," said Burton. "It just started to get better and better. I tried to get all I could out of it. The way the tires are, they operate on the edge all the time and when they break loose, they break loose quickly. Whether it was the front of the car or the back of the car, we experienced that more than I wanted to in those last six or seven laps."

Many drivers were concerned with the tire compound prescribed for Las Vegas Motor Speedway's new asphalt and increased banking.

"I know a lot of people complained about the tires, and it is very tricky and you can get yourself in trouble," said Burton. "At the end of the day, there's no choice. You can't come to a race track knowing you're going to have tire problems and not do something about it, and that's what they (Goodyear) did. Again, I think they did the right thing. People shouldn't talk without understanding all of it. It's a little aggravating when people have a third of the information but gain 100% of the opinion."

Burton's share of the Sam's Town purse was $98,250.

Despite overheating problems, Tony Stewart finished third.

Stewart told the media at the post-race press conference that his water temperature was as high as 285 degrees at one point.

SAM'S TOWN 300 RACE RESULTS:

1. Jeff Burton

2. Kyle Busch

3. Tony Stewart

4. Kurt Busch

5. David Stremme

6. Carl Edwards

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Bobby Labonte

9. Shane Huffman

10. Marcos Ambrose

11. Jon Wood

12. Denny Hamlin

13. Mike Wallace

14. Bobby Hamilton Jr.

15. Ward Burton

16. Joe Nemechek

17. Steve Wallace

18. Stephen Leicht

19. J.J. Yeley

20. Juan Pablo Montoya

21. Jay Sauter

22. Justin Diercks

23. Jeff Green

24. David Ragan

25. Dave Blaney

26. Eric McClure

27. Kyle Krisiloff

28. Kasey Kahne

29. Jamie McMurray

30. Reed Sorenson

31. David Reutimann

32. David Gilliland

33. Regan Smith

34. Brad Keselowski

35. Brad Coleman

36. Paul Menard

37. Jason Leffler

38. Greg Biffle

39. Brent Sherman

40. Matt Kenseth

41. Clint Bowyer

42. Casey Mears

43. Brett Rowe

Average speed: 104.53 mph.

Margin of victory: 0.101 sec.

Cautions: 12 for 58 laps.

Time of race: 2 hrs., 52 min., 12 sec.

Lead changes: 23 among 12 drivers.

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