Concord, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Kyle Busch won a Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway for a record-extending eighth time after passing Sam Hornish Jr. for the lead in the closing laps of Friday night's Dollar General 300.
Busch started on the pole and led the first six laps before he dealt with an ill-handling car for most of the race. He reclaimed the top spot during a round of pit stops under caution with 42 laps remaining.
Hornish chased down Busch and grabbed the lead from him with 21 laps to go, but Busch took over the top spot for good with just eight laps left.
Busch claimed his 11th Nationwide win of the season and the 62nd of his career. He also became the first driver in the series to win from the pole at Charlotte since Matt Kenseth last did it in October 2000.
"It was certainly challenging tonight," Busch said. "I lost the lead, and I didn't think we were going to win the thing. But somehow I got to the top and started making time and was able to get back up there."
In May, Busch led 186 of 200 laps to win the spring race at Charlotte. He ran in front for a total of 36 laps in this event.
Busch also has five Camping World Truck Series victories at this 1.5-mile racetrack, but he has yet to win a Sprint Cup Series race here. He will start ninth in Saturday night's 500-mile event at Charlotte. Busch is currently fifth in the Chase point standings (-35).
Hornish led the most laps with 76 but faded at the end. Austin Dillon passed him for second with five laps to go. Dillon finished 0.5 seconds behind Busch. He has yet to win a Nationwide race this season.
"Our car really took off at the end," Dillon said. "It's one of my favorite cars. With 10 (laps) to go, I figured that we're going to have something for (Busch), because I could really get to him off of (turn) four. But he just didn't make a mistake."
Dillon's lead in the Nationwide championship standings remained at eight points. The series will take a two-week break before running its last three races of the season -- Texas (Nov. 2), Phoenix (Nov. 9) and Homestead (Nov. 16).
"To come out of here and be at the same point that we were with Austin in points is pretty good," Hornish said.
Kevin Harvick finished fourth, while Matt Kenseth, who won last weekend's Nationwide race at Kansas, took the fifth spot.
Justin Allgaier was sixth, followed by Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne. Parker Kligerman and Michael Annett completed the top-10.
The 300-mile race at Charlotte featured five cautions, including the first one on lap 53 for a multi-car accident on the frontstretch. Reed Sorenson drove into the grass and then slid up the track before making contact with the wall. Brian Vickers swerved to avoid hitting Sorenson but crashed into his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Elliott Sadler, who was exiting off of pit road. Green-flag stops were wrapping up at the time. Sadler continued on for another 14 laps before he spun out and crashed into the wall, ending his night early with a 36th-place finish.
"It's very frustrating," Sadler said. "I don't think anything has ever happened to me like that on pit road. My spotter is telling me to go, and they're wrecking behind me, which I thought I was racing the leader to the line to stay on the lead lap. I had no idea they were going to hit me and tear my car into pieces. It's weird luck we had here tonight."
Sadler started the race from the rear of the field in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during qualifying earlier in the day.