Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the defending Nationwide Series champion, lucked into his sixth win of the season Saturday when leader Kyle Busch ran out gas heading into the final turn of NASCAR’s Nationwide race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.
A late caution extended the race by six laps, and it ran the fuel tanks dry of several cars at the front of the field.
Not Stenhouse, though. Because he ran into Joey Logano early into the race, dropping him two laps down during his stops for repairs, he was on a different pit sequence and had plenty of gas to make it to the end.
So he liked his chances when he lined up fifth on the final restart.
As the field prepared to take the green, Sam Hornish Jr. ran out of gas and NASCAR called off the start. It tacked on yet another lap, and that cost Paul Menard, who led a race-high 110 laps but ran out of gas as the field took the green.
Busch, who was seeking his first Nationwide win of the season and first in his Kyle Busch Motorsports entry, was the leader on the restart and jumped out to a comfortable lead.
But Busch’s tank ran dry as he exited the third turn, and Stenhouse cruised past for the improbable victory.
“I saw Kyle and he was really shaking it down the back straightaway trying to make sure it had a lot of fuel and I thought it was good to go,” Stenhouse said. “But right in the center it ran out and I was able to sneak by him on the outside and get the win. That was exciting.”
The win tightened up the Nationwide championship race, too.
Stenhouse was 13 points behind leader Elliott Sadler at the start of the race, but cut it to six points with three races remaining.
Austin Dillon finished second to clinch the manufacturer championship for Chevrolet.
Logano wound up third.
ELSEWHERE
Enumclaw’s Kasey Kahne, who is fifth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, will start on the pole for today’s NASCAR race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. “I’ve always liked Kansas,” Kahne said. “I’ve liked how you have been able to move around and run a lot of different lines and things. I feel like this track will go there eventually.” … Formula One’s inaugural Grand Prix of America slated to be run in New Jersey has been postponed until at least 2014. … Neel Jani, Andrea Belicchi and Nicolas Prost won the Petit Le Mans, racing to a three-lap victory in the season-ending 1,000-mile event at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga.
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