Leicht wins first Busch Series race

Leicht wins first Busch Series race
Edwards ahead until late wreck.

Published Sunday, June 17, 2007

SPARTA, Ky. (AP) - Stephen Leicht took advantage of Carl Edwards’ late wreck to win for the first time in the Busch Series, passing fellow rookie Brad Coleman with 13 laps left and holding on last night in the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

Leicht, whose best finish previous was eighth in the Pepsi 300 in April, beat Coleman by 1.851 seconds.

A year after David Gilliland stunned the field, Leicht repeated the feat at the 1.5-mile oval, a track that has become friendly to first-time winners because of the absence of Nextel Cup drivers who usually run the series.

Leicht had led all of 11 laps this season before last night, including 10 in last week’s Federated 300 in Nashville. He’d managed just two top-10 finishes all season and had finished better than 20th just once in his last eight starts.

Two months of frustration, however, went away after the final caution of the night on lap 178. On the restart six laps later, Leicht quickly caught Scott Wimmer, then used his momentum to blow by good friend Coleman.

For the first 156 laps, it looked like another runaway for Edwards, the series leader and Nextel Cup regular.

Edwards led 96 laps and seemed well on his way to his fifth victory of the season, third in a row and second Busch win at Kentucky. His lead grew to 10 seconds before a caution for debris came on Lap 152.

Edwards’ night ended on the restart, however, when Steve Wallace bumped him into the wall heading into the first turn. Edwards managed to return to the track but missed 21 laps and finished 33rd.

● Craftsman Trucks: Travis Kvapil patiently stalked Kyle Busch around Michigan International Speedway, finally passing him with one lap to go yesterday to score his first Craftsman Truck Series win since 2004.

Busch led four times for 38 laps, but was struggling to control his Chevrolet when Kvapil closed in on him over the final 10 laps. Kvapil finally attempted a pass in the fourth turn, sliding ahead of Busch as they closed in on the start/finsh line with the white flag waving above them. Kvapil then pulled away on the final lap to win.