By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

LAS VEGAS—Hold on, Kyle Busch.

In an unlikely finish Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Mark Martin stretched fuel mileage and simultaneously stretched his career wins lead in the Nationwide Series.

After race leader Brad Keselowski cut a tire and hit the wall on the final lap of the Sam’s Town 300, Martin cruised to the checkered flag, posting his 49th Nationwide victory. Busch, who dominated early but later fell out of the race, is second with 44 Nationwide wins.

Justin Allgaier ran second, with Keselowski limping home in third.

After falling more than two laps down earlier in the race, Danica Patrick rallied to finish fourth, posting the best result ever for a female driver in one of NASCAR’s top three series. Patrick’s previous best finish was 14th at Daytona in February.

Busch had opened a lead of more than 10 seconds after a round of green-flag pit stops early in the race, as Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Keselowski all had issues on pit road. NASCAR, however called a caution on Lap 65 because of fluid on the racetrack, and Busch’s lead evaporated.

His winning chances likewise disappeared on Lap 130, when Busch made an aggressive move off Turn 4, clipped the infield grass as he tried to avoid Keselowski’s Dodge and slid through the tri-oval. Ultimately, the left front of Busch’s Toyota smacked the inside wall at the entry to Turn 1, and his race was over.

“I had a really big run off the top, and I didn’t want to go to the outside,” Busch said. “I wanted to kind of get down and be on the bottom, so I could get down on the white line in Turn 1. I didn’t even make it that far. I got to the bottom of the 22 (Keselowski), and I guess he came to block a little bit.

“I didn’t want to run into him, so I went into the grass, and I know the grass typically doesn’t work, so I looked kind of stupid doing that. Tried to hang on to it, and just couldn’t get it back straight in enough time and got into the inside wall.”

1 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford
2 9 Marcos Ambrose Stanley Ford
3 99 Carl Edwards Scotts/Kellogg’s Ford
4 16 Greg Biffle 3M Post-it Ford
5 18 Kyle Busch Snickers Toyota
6 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota
7 43 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Ford
8 39 Ryan Newman Haas Automation Chevrolet
9 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Toyota
10 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
11 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald’s Chevrolet
12 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet
13 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet
14 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s / KOBALT Tools Chevrolet
15 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet
16 21 Trevor Bayne(i) Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford
17 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota
18 27 Paul Menard Moen/Menards Chevrolet
19 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota
20 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Dodge
21 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
22 22 Kurt Busch Shell/Pennzoil Ultra Dodge
23 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Clorox Chevrolet
24 47 Bobby Labonte Kingsford Toyota
25 00 David Reutimann TUMS Toyota
26 29 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevrolet
27 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota
28 33 Clint Bowyer Wheaties Fuel Chevrolet
29 32 Mike Skinner(i) Southern Pride Trucking Ford
30 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota
31 87 Joe Nemechek(i) NEMCO Motorsports Toyota
32 46 J J Yeley Darlington Raceway Chevrolet
33 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet
34 36 Dave Blaney Accell Construction Chevrolet
35 34 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
36 60 Landon Cassill(i) Big Red Toyota
37 09 Bill Elliott Rydex Chevrolet
38 7 Robby Gordon SPEED Energy Dodge
39 38 Travis Kvapil(i) Long John Silver’s Ford
40 71 Andy Lally # Eco-Fuel Saver Chevrolet
41 37 Tony Raines Race Fuel Energy Drink Ford
42 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
43 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing, LLC Toyota

Reed Sorenson’s two top-five finishes to start the season have him atop the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings for the second consecutive week. He has a five-point advantage over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. which, along with Danica Patrick’s fourth-place standing, may be one of the biggest surprises of the early going.

Many thought Stenhouse was performing his way out of the series during the first quarter of the 2010 season before rebounding to earn Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. But his two top-10 finishes out of the gate suggest he’s still navigating the first full-season waters of the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ new car just as he did during its race debuts last year.

In the first four races for the new car, Stenhouse was immediately comfortable. He posted an average finish of 8.5, including his career-best finish of third at Daytona last July in its debut race. His average finish thus far is 7.5. Sorenson is no slouch in the new car either. His average finish in the four races last year was 10.5; this year he’s improved significantly with an average finish of 5.0

Stenhouse is looking to duplicate the feat of his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Greg Biffle, who was the last NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year to win series championship the following season. “The Biff” won the rookie honor in 2001 then captured the series championship in 2002.

Kyle Busch playing second fiddle in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at his hometown track?

Pardon the pun, but you might bet on it this weekend in Vegas.

Busch, a Las Vegas native and the 2009 series champion, did win his second consecutive spring race at Phoenix last Saturday, the 44th victory in his 204-race career. He’s now four wins from tying Mark Martin’s all-time series record of 48.

But therein lies the rub.

Martin’s last NASCAR Nationwide Series win came at LVMS in 2008. And his last series win before that? Vegas in 2005. He’s tied with Jeff Burton for the most series wins there with three. In his two other series starts at LVMS, Martin placed sixth and second. And guess who’s entered in a series race for the first time since he ran one event in 2009?

Martin will run four races this year for Turner Motorsports in the No. 32 Dollar General Chevrolet. Saturday’s race at LVMS is the first of those four. (Reed Sorenson, who will drive the bulk of the season in the No. 32, will be in the No. 30 Chevrolet at LVMS).

Surprisingly, Busch has yet to win in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition at Las Vegas, and has only one top-five finish in seven series starts at the 1.5-mile track.

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‘Dinger & 43 Happy
AJ Allmendinger heads into Las Vegas with an extra spring in his step with his 4th place position in the point standings. It’s the first time the famous #43 car is near the top of the standings since April 26, 1987 with driver Richard Petty.

Labonte Top 10
Bobby Labonte is of course the 2000 Cup Series champion, but would you believe the last time he has been top 10 in points for two straight races was back in August of 2004?

Johnson Trending
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