BUSCH

• Busch dominant in Nationwide win at Iowa

  Newton, IA (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch put on a dominating performance to easily win Saturday's U.S.

  Cellular 250 Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway.

  Busch claimed his ninth Nationwide victory of the season after leading 209 of 250 laps at the short 0.875-mile oval. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is one win away from tying the series record for most victories in a season with 10, a record he shares with Sam Ard.

  "It's pretty phenomenal the race cars these guys put out," Busch said. "This is my 54th win in a Toyota." After a round of pits stops during a late-race caution, Busch took on four tires, while Kevin Harvick put on just two new tires and captured the lead. Busch held the sixth spot for the final restart, but quickly charged through the field and then passed Harvick to take the lead for good with 25 laps remaining.

  "I didn't think we had it, because it was the same car and the same feel we had last year," Busch added. "I was thinking, 'it's just not coming off the corner the way I needed it to.' But we were able to dial it in and get it to where we needed it." When the series race for the first time at Iowa last year, Brad Keselowski gambled on old tires.

  Keselowski remained on the track, while most of the leaders pitted during a late-race caution. He passed Busch for the lead with nine laps to go and then held him off for the win.

  Busch and Harvick were among eight drivers who traveled from Pocono to Iowa earlier in the day. The Sprint Cup Series is running a 500-mile race at Pocono on Sunday.

  Brad Coleman drove Busch's No.18 Toyota in practice, but Busch qualified the car on the outside pole just minutes after he arrived at the track.

  Harvick finished second, followed by Jason Leffler and Keselowski, the current points leader.

  "[Busch] was a little bit better on the restarts; my car was really loose on the restarts," Harvick said. "I thought, 'what the heck and let's just put two tires on.' We got five cars in between us, but he passed them all on the first lap, so the track position didn't pay off." Trevor Bayne, the pole sitter, finished fifth. Bayne, at age 19, became the youngest driver in series history to win three consecutive poles.

  Steve Wallace, Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, Matt DiBenedetto and Carl Edwards completed the top-10.

  Keselowski slightly increased his lead to 231 points over Edwards.

  The race was halted twice within the first 100 laps for separate multi-car crashes.

  The first red flag came on lap 44 after Reed Sorenson cut a tire and slammed hard into the wall. Tony Raines also was involved in the incident.

  The next stoppage occurred on lap 94 for an incident involving five drivers. Colin Braun hit the wall and slid down the track before Brian Keselowski nailed into the back of Braun, spinning him around several times. Brendan Gaughan, Mark Green and Paul Menard were caught up in the wreck as well. No one was injured.

  "We ended up blowing a right-front tire, and then you're kind of along for the ride after that," Braun said. "Unfortunately, I guess those guys just didn't see me. I hate it for all those guys that got tore up in the wreck."

  07/31 23:47:32 ET