Kyle Busch Feels "Heluva Good!" After Nationwide Win

"It feels good," Kyle Busch, winner of the Heluva Good! 200, said after spanking the field and taking the checkered flag at the Monster Mile in Dover, Del. 

Just as the Miles the Monster trophy will have Busch's die cast car in his hands after the win, Busch had the field in the palm of his hands for most of the 200 laps of the Nationwide event.

Busch, in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Combos Toyota, not only started the race from the pole position, but led 191 of the 205 laps.  This was his 20th time to start from the pole and his 34th Nationwide career victory.

"This Combos Toyota was awesome," Busch said.  "We had a great car and all we did was just make sure we adjusted on it right and kept it out front and kept it in clean air."

Busch and crew chief Jason Ratcliff made it look easy on the hot and sunny day at the Monster Mile.  While the race was relatively caution free, Busch got great restarts after the yellow flags and set sail, lapping a good majority of the field.

"It was fun," Ratcliff said.  "I told Kyle earlier that he makes it fun to just sit back in that seat up there and enjoy the weather."

"We had a great car all weekend," Ratcliff continued.  "It was just a dominant car and we were able to stay up front."

The race for Busch seemed relatively effortless, yet some of the other drivers faced challenges.  Brad Keselowski, who also had a dominant car, took a spin and his car was never right for the rest of the race.

As the laps clicked down and the Combos car continued to lead, fans in the stands were a bit lulled into the logging of the laps and keeping track of who was on the lead lap and who was a lap down.

But all that changed when there were just a few laps to go and competitor Denny Hamlin decided to make a charge for the front.  Unfortunately for Clint Bowyer, that charge was at his expense and his wreck led to a nine-car pile up and a red flag for clean up of the carnage.

Bowyer was furious and got even when the cars finally did restart.  He punted Hamlin into the wall during one of the pace laps and earned his golden ticket to the NASCAR hauler after the race.

"It is what it is," Bowyer said after the race.  "I don't have a beef with Denny.  We'll be fine."

"I got one taken from me," Bowyer said.  "Just a little payback."

Hamlin, who has been in his share of conflicts on the track, seemed unfazed after the incident.

"We tried to make something happen on the restart," Hamlin said.  "A lot of times when that happens, you kind of expect retaliation."

In spite of the tempers flying from other competitors, Busch seemed unfazed by it all. 

"We hadn't had stumbling problems all day, so I figured we can have just a good, clean restart," Busch said.  "That's what we did.  That's what won us the race."

"I'm not sure why we've been so successful with Combos," Busch said.  I'm glad we get to take them to Victory Lane.  This is just another product of Joe Gibbs Racing and all the guys that work so hard."

Ryan Newman came in second, with Jamie McMurray, Reed Sorenson, and Jason Leffler rounding out the top five.  The Nationwide Series will next race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Tech-Net Auto Service 200 on May 29.