NATIONWIDE

Kyle Busch is now a better bet than the NASCAR Nationwide Series field.

Busch raced to his sixth victory in his last seven Nationwide starts and ninth in 17 events this season Saturday night, leading 209 of 250 laps in a dominating run at the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway in Newtown, Iowa.

Busch moved a victory away from the series season victory record of 10 he shares with Sam Ard. Busch, a 10-time winner in 2008, is second in series history with 39 victories - nine behind Mark Martin's record.

Given that Busch has won more than he's lost so far, that 10-win record seems destined to fall this season.

Martin's career mark doesn't seem all that safe either.

"I'm looking forward to it, man. I can't wait to get to win 11, and hopefully more after that," Busch said.

Kevin Harvick was second, followed by Jason Leffler. Brad Keselowski, who beat Busch in Iowa last year, finished fourth to stay atop the series points standings by 231 points over Carl Edwards, who was 10th.

Trevor Bayne, who became the first Nationwide driver in 18 years to capture three consecutive poles earlier Saturday, finished fifth in front of a standing-room only crowd of nearly 56,000.

Harvick took the lead from Busch during a late pit stop by taking just two tires while Busch grabbed four. But that mattered little to Busch, who had the strongest car of the night.

The No. 18 Toyota zipped past Harvick on the outside with 25 laps to go on the 0.875-mile oval, winning without running a single practice lap for the second week in a row.

"Harvick scared us a little bit at the end there, putting on two (tires) and having a good jump on us at the restart there, but we ran him down," Busch said.

Busch, who started second after flying back from practice for the Sprint Cup race Saturday at Pocono with Harvick, grabbed the lead from Bayne soon after the race went green, marking the 17th straight Nationwide race he's led at some point.

Busch was still in front when Reed Sorenson popped a front tire 42 laps in, causing the No. 32 car to slam into the wall and catch fire under the hood. Sorenson, who was running 12th, was pulled out safely.

Bayne gave Busch all he could handle through the first third of the race, briefly jumping ahead and leading a total of 21 laps.

Bayne was the first driver to start out front in three straight races since Jeff Gordon did it in 1992, and at 19 he's also the youngest to do so.

At Iowa Speedway

Newton, Iowa

Lap length: .875 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 250 laps, 195 pts.

2. (7) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 250, 175.

3. (6) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 250, 165.

4. (4) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 250, 160.

5. (1) Trevor Bayne, Toyota, 250, 160.

6. (5) Steve Wallace, Toyota, 250, 150.

7. (12) Michael Annett, Toyota, 250, 146.

8. (8) Justin Allgaier, Dodge, 250, 142.

9. (9) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 250, 138.

10. (16) Carl Edwards, Ford, 250, 134.

11. (17) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 250, 130.

12. (20) Shelby Howard, Chev., 250, 127.

13. (26) Mike McDowell, Dodge, 250, 124.

14. (13) R. Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 250, 121.

15. (15) Drew Herring, Ford, 250, 118.

16. (30) Paul Menard, Ford, 250, 115.

17. (22) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 250, 112.

18. (23) Steve Arpin, Chevrolet, 250, 109.

19. (28) Joe Nemechek, Chev., 250, 106.

20. (33) Jeremy Clements, Che., 249, 103.

21. (35) Kenny Wallace, Chev., 247, 100.

22. (32) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 246, 97.

23. (41) Rob Richardson Jr., Che., 245, 94.

24. (38) John Wes Townley, Ford, 244, 91.

25. (36) John Borneman III, Ford, 244, 88.

26. (11) Jason Keller, Chevrolet, 244, 85.

27. (31) Tayler Malsam, Toyota, 242, 82.

28. (39) Mike Wallace, Che., accident, 201, 79.

29. (34) T. Raines, Chev., susp., 166, 76.

30. (3) Brian Scott, Toyota, acc., 162, 73.

31. (25) B. Gaughan, Toyota, acc., 93, 70.

32. (42) Colin Braun, Ford, acc., 90, 67.

33. (18) B. Keselowski, Dodge, acc., 90, 64.

34. (14) Mark Green, Che., acc., 90, 61.

35. (19) M. Shepherd, Che., acc., 43, 58.

36. (27) R. Sorenson, Toyota, acc., 41, 55.

37. (10) K. Lepage, Toyota, brakes, 33, 52.

38. (24) D. O'Quinn Jr., Che., brakes, 24, 49.

39. (40) Brad Baker, Ford, brakes, 20, 46.

40. (37) T. Schendel, Chev., trans., 18, 43.

41. (21) Chase Miller, Che., brakes, 16, 40.

42. (43) D. Setzer, Dodge, handling, 9, 37.

43. (29) Jeff Green, Che., trans., 2, 34.

Top 10 in Points: 1. Bra.Keselowski, 3,349; 2. C.Edwards, 3,118; 3. K.Busch, 2,876; 4. J.Allgaier, 2,833; 5. P.Menard, 2,620; 6. K.Harvick, 2,609; 7. S.Wallace, 2,488; 8. T.Bayne, 2,365; 9. B.Gaughan, 2,347; 10. J.Leffler, 2,326.

SPRINT CUP

Pocono promising safety changes: Pocono Raceway, the site of today's NASCAR Sprint Cup Pennsylvania 500 (10 a.m, ESPN, ESPN 700) keeps taking hits.

Often criticized by drivers for unnecessary 500-mile races and for clogging two spots on the Sprint Cup schedule, the 2?-mile triangle track at Long Pond, Pa., is now deemed by some unsafe after an accident in the June race involving Kasey Kahne.

The rally cry of "shorten the races" has morphed into "make them safer."

Track president Brandon Igdalsky is listening - and he's promising to do what it takes to improve the track.

"Do we need to make changes? Yes," he said.

Greg Biffle offered the harshest critique in a recent Sports Illustrated story, saying "they're going to kill somebody there." He added: "If they don't change that racetrack - maybe not next year, maybe not three years from now - they'll hurt somebody there."

Igdalsky wants the feedback - even as he feels Biffle overstated the danger - and has already started planning safety improvements. The track is adding more SAFER barriers in time for next year's race and would like to install a catch fence along the non-grandstand areas.

At Pocono Raceway

Long Pond, Pa.

Lap length: 2.5 miles

(Car number in parentheses)

1. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 171.393.

2. (42) J.P. Montoya, Chevrolet, 171.096.

3. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 170.371.

4. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 170.222.

5. (39) Ryan Newman, Chev., 169.936.

6. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chev., 169.901.

7. (43) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 169.879.

8. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 169.77.

9. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chev., 169.696.

10. (5) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 169.613.

11. (12) B. Keselowski, Dodge, 169.543.

12. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 169.447.

13. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 169.44.

14. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chev., 169.163.

15. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 169.122.

16. (9) Kasey Kahne, Ford, 169.1.

17. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 169.024.

18. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 168.995.

19. (47) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 168.7.

20. (88) D. Earnhardt Jr., Chev., 168.672.

21. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 168.669.

22. (71) Bobby Labonte, Chev., 168.602.

23. (98) Paul Menard, Ford, 168.413.

24. (00) D. Reutimann, Toyota, 168.366.

25. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 168.347.

26. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 168.294.

27. (82) Scott Speed, Toyota, 168.083.

28. (56) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 167.951.

29. (19) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 167.813.

30. (46) J.J. Yeley, Dodge, 167.629.

31. (83) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 167.37.

32. (38) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 167.33.

33. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 167.156.

34. (78) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 166.988.

35. (09) Landon Cassill, Chev., 166.988.

36. (55) Mike McDowell, Toyota, 166.979.

37. (37) David Gilliland, Ford, 166.457.

38. (66) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 166.392.

39. (36) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 166.322.

40. (33) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 165.511.

41. (34) Kevin Conway, Ford, Owner Pts.

42. (7) P.J. Jones, Toyota, Owner Points.

43. (64) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 166.276.

n Failed to Qualify

44. (26) David Stremme, Ford, 165.386.

45. (13) Max Papis, Toyota, 165.026.