Kyle Busch dominates in Chicagoland 300

The No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch dominated the Dollar General 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., on Saturday, leading 195 laps of the 200-lap race en route to his 61st-career win in the series and his 10th victory of 2013. Three other drivers combined to lead the other five laps.

"This was an awesome race car right here," Busch said.

The No. 22 Penske Racing Ford of Joey Logano got by teammate Sam Hornish Jr. in the No. 12 Ford with nine laps to go for third and then passed the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Austin Dillon a lap later for second to claim runner-up honors. Hornish also got by Dillon in the late laps to finish third. Dillon wound up fourth.

"It was just a little too tight to do what we needed to do the first or three or four laps," Hornish said of his car's handling after a late-race restart.

Busch led the way until the first caution of the race came out on lap 24. The No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Brian Scott took only two tires to get off pit road first and second. The two-tire strategy didn't keep them up front for long, though, as Logano took the lead and Busch moved into second as soon as the race went back to green. A few laps later, Busch retook the lead and ran up front the rest of the way.

For most of the first half of the race, Hornish and Logano ran second and third to Busch, but Logano fell back several positions when he was overtaken by several drivers on fresher tires that were taken during a caution just past the halfway point of the race. Other front runners, including Busch and Hornish also took fuel only during the caution, but they were able to remain in front of the field.

Busch and Hornish were joined at the front by the No. 32 Turner Scott Racing Chevrolet of Kyle Larson. Larson started the race 39th out of 40 cars after spinning in qualifying. He raced his way up to second before a left rear tire issue sent him into the wall with 26 laps remaining.

"There was never any contact," Larson said. "That was the fastest I'd been running all day. I don't know if the speeds had the tires down or not."

Logano then made his way back up toward the front after taking on the four tires he had saved during an earlier caution to move into the top-three in the final 10 laps. By that time, Dillon had also made his way toward the front.

"We had a good car all day," Dillon said. "We lost rack position about the middle of the race but got it back."

Earnhardt finished fifth. Finishing sixth through 10th were the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Brian Vickers, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Matt Kenseth, the No. 77 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota of Parker Kligerman, the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick and the No. 30 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet of Nelson Piquet Jr.

With their top-five finishes, series points leader Hornish and second-place Dillon pulled away from their closest competitors in the standings -- the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Elliott Sadler and the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Regan Smith. Both Sadler and Smith were involved in incidents that brought out yellow flags, Sadler with about 45 laps to go and Smith later with 18 laps remaining.

The yellow flag waved six times throughout the race. There were only two caution in the first 150 laps before the yellow flag was employed four times in the final 50.