Entering Saturday's O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, Busch had led a series-best 345 laps without a win. After finishing second to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart in the first two races of the season, a series of mishaps had blocked the Toyota driver's path to victory lane.
That changed at Texas, where Busch ran away from the competition to post his first Nationwide win of the season and the 12th of his career. Though he had to survive a restart on Lap 194 of 200, Busch pulled away over the final seven laps and crossed the finish line 1.041 seconds ahead of runner-up Jeff Burton.
Series points leader Clint Bowyer finished third, followed by Bobby Labonte and Jamie McMurray. Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Jason Leffler and Tony Stewart completed the top 10.
Busch, who had posted second-place finishes at Texas in 2004 and 2007, led four times for 126 laps, including the final 43. His winning average speed of 151.707 mph was a track record, eclipsing the 145.710 mph posted by Kevin Harvick in the 2006 fall race.
"This feels so good," Busch said after he climbed from the winning No. 18 Camry. "It's great to give (sponsor) DLP their first NASCAR win, and it's great to bring Toyota to victory lane here. It's so hard to win at this place. I want to thank my fans for sticking with me. We've been through some tough times in the Nationwide Series."
Busch had opened a lead of almost four seconds when Kyle Krisiloff's spin on Lap 190 brought out the fourth and final caution of the race. Busch and Burton remained on the track during the caution, while the 11 lead-lap cars behind them came to the pits for tires.
Busch said it was a difficult choice to stay out.
"It was tough," he admitted. "I know four tires would be fast, but I didn't know if I'd be able to get back through traffic."
Burton initially second-guessed crew chief Pat Smith's decision to not to bring him to the pits, but changed his mind after hanging on to the runner-up spot.
"Kyle's car was really fast," Burton said. "He was really fast on old tires. That said, holding the (second) spot was probably good enough. I don't think we could have gotten past him."
Notes: Harvick, who started on the pole after Thursday's qualifying session was rained out, broke an axle on his first pit stop and lost 21 laps while his crew replaced it. He finished 34th. . . Stewart lost a lap with an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 71, after cutting his right rear tire. He had run over a lug nut on pit road during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 56. . . Fourteen cars finished on the lead lap.
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