Kyle Busch Wins in California; Danica Patrick 31st

FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- Danica Patrick accomplished one of her goals by finishing the NASCAR Nationwide race Saturday at Auto Club Speedway, while Kyle Busch overtook Greg Biffle coming out of the final turn in a wild finish in the Stater Bros. 300.

Busch passed Biffle just shy of the finish line in a green-white-checker finish, winning by .051 seconds, with Brad Keselowski right behind iin third.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano, who led 130 laps and was up front when the final caution came out. But on the final restart, he was bumped out of the lead by Biffle and finished fifth, spinning across the infield grass as he passed under the checkered flag.

Patrick was 31st, three laps off the pace, after incurring two penalties for speeding on pit road. But unlike Daytona, where she got caught up in a 12-car crash just past the halfway point, she was racing at the finish on the slick two-mile superspeedway. And she made progress during a trying 300 miles, holding her deficit to three laps through the second half of the race.

On the final restart, created after Brendan Gaughan spun out on lap 145 to bring out a caution, Biffle quickly pushed by Logano and Busch followed him. Busch then got around Biffle on the final turn and beat him for his 31st Nationwide victory.

Logano was trying to win from the pole at California for the second time in a row. But Busch still gave Gibbs its fifth consecutive Nationwide victory in Southern California.
When the race restarted after a caution for debris, Logano was in 11th place behind several cars who decided not to pit and 1.5 seconds behind Biffle, who had taken the lead.

Logano needed only four laps to move up to fifth and two more laps to get into third behind Biffle and Kevin Harvick. Then on lap 100, Logano regained the lead when he went low on the track and passed Biffle coming out of Turn 4. It looked as if that was where he might stay until he stumbled on the final restart, spinning his tires.

Patrick started the day 36th and quickly dropped to the back of the field. She was lapped by Logano only 17 laps into the race. Yet, it took another 43 laps before Logano lapped her again.

On her first two stops, Patrick was penalized for speeding on pit row. So was veteran driver Carl Edwards, who finished fourth.

Patrick repeatedly said this week that the difficult part for her was not knowing for sure how things are supposed to feel in a stock car. It was clear she was trying to figure that out and she accomplished what she had to do -- run laps and gain experience.

"You progressed a lot in this race, girl. I'm proud of you, what you've learned," crew chief Tony Eury Jr. told her over the radio more than two-thirds of the way through the race.

Patrick originally was supposed to make her NASCAR debut at California, but started at Daytona a week earlier than planned after finishing sixth in an ARCA race at Daytona. She also will race next weekend at the 1 1/2 -mile Las Vegas track before getting back in Indy cars for a stretch.

After five laps Saturday, Patrick was 41st of the 41 cars still on the track after two had already parked for the day. Fifteen laps later, she was still last on the track (of 40 cars) and had already been passed by seven cars.

When the 57th lap ended, Patrick had moved to 35th ahead of four other cars on the track and her lap times were improving.

At the halfway point, she was up to 32nd, though two laps down. She only lost one more lap during the rest of the race.