Scott Wimmer’s fuel lasted just long enough to reach the checkered flag and capture Saturday’s Pepsi 300 at the Nashville Superspeedway. The No.29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.578 seconds ahead of Clint Bowyer.

The victory was Wimmer’s first in 58 races and sixth of his Nationwide career. His last victory was in July 2003 at Pikes Peak.

“I can’t believe its been that long,” said Wimmer. “These guys did a great job, they really build great race cars every week.”

Wimmer made the winning pass with 20 laps to go while both he and Bowyer were trying to conserve fuel. From there it was just a matter of keeping the engine running all the way to the checkered flag. It did and Wimmer won by half-a- second.

Pole winner, Kyle Busch, wasn’t just satisfied with leading the first lap, he kept on going leading the first 61 laps. His lead over Bowyer was two second after 40 laps and he kept that gap until the first round of yellow-flag pit stops began at lap 62. It was there that the No.2 team outperformed the No.20 team, putting Bowyer in front of Busch as the race restarted on lap 64.

But it took Busch only about a lap and a half to slide underneath Bowyer to retake the top spot. Then Bowyer returned the favor on lap 72, showing he was more than ready to meet the challenge.

The two continued to joust with each other while still managing to build a three-second lead on third-place driver Wimmer. But by lap 110, Busch built a lead over Bowyer of more than one second. He had also lapped all but the top-19 cars.

The leaders began green flag pit stops on lap 122. Busch came in on lap 124 holding a two-second lead on Bowyer.

By lap 150, there were just a dozen cars left on the lead lap. A caution flag eliminated his lead and then Busch spun out on lap 162, without any help from anyone else.

“Just a stupid mistake on the driver’s part,” said Busch.

More at The Miami Herald

RESULTS:

FIN, ST, CAR, DRIVER, MAKE, SPONSOR, PTS/BNS, LAPS, STATUS

1 14 29 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express 190/5 225 Running
2 7 2 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 175/5 225 Running
3 4 60 Carl Edwards Ford Scotts Miracle-Gro “It’s Gro Time” 165/0 225 Running
4 8 88 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet U.S. Navy 165/5 225 Running
5 5 47 Kelly Bires Ford Clorox 160/5 225 Running
6 11 64 David Stremme Chevrolet Atreus Homes & Communities 150/0 225 Running
7 21 32 Denny Hamlin Toyota Dollar General 146/0 225 Running
8 13 33 Cale Gale * Chevrolet Camping World/ RVs.com 142/0 225 Running
9 19 99 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 138/0 224 Running
10 17 25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford Smithfield 134/0 224 Running
11 2 22 Mike Bliss Dodge Supercuts 130/0 224 Running
12 6 21 Stephen Leicht Chevrolet Racing Gearz 127/0 224 Running
13 23 38 Jason Leffler Toyota Great Clips 124/0 224 Running
14 16 9 Chase Miller * Dodge Valvoline 121/0 224 Running
15 9 16 Colin Braun Ford CitiFinancial 118/0 224 Running
16 1 20 Kyle Busch Toyota Z-Line Designs 125/10 223 Running
17 18 40 Bryan Clauson * Dodge Fastenal 112/0 223 Running
18 25 111 Jason Keller Chevrolet America’s Incredible Pizza Company 109/0 223 Running
19 22 5 Landon Cassill * Chevrolet Nat’l Guard / 128th Military Police Company 106/0 223 Running
20 24 7 Mike Wallace Toyota GEICO 103/0 223 Running
21 26 6 David Ragan Ford Coats / Discount Tire 100/0 223 Running
22 20 1 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 97/0 222 Running
23 15 59 Marcos Ambrose Ford Kingsford Hickory Charcoal 94/0 222 Running
24 3 66 Steve Wallace Chevrolet Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches 91/0 222 Running
25 31 41 Kyle Krisiloff Dodge Polaroid 88/0 221 Running
26 29 170 Mark Green Chevrolet Foretravel Motorcoach 85/0 221 Running
27 10 27 Brad Coleman Ford Cottonelle BKB 82/0 221 Running
28 12 37 Brad Baker Ford Make-A-Wish Foundation 79/0 219 Running
29 27 161 Kevin Lepage Ford Skeets 76/0 218 Running
30 34 01 Kertus Davis Chevrolet RaceGirl 73/0 218 Running
31 30 24 Eric McClure Chevrolet Hefty 70/0 218 Running
32 32 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet U.S. Border Patrol 67/0 217 Running
33 38 195 Willie Allen Dodge Wide Open Energy Drink 64/0 216 Running
34 28 81 D.J. Kennington Dodge Mahindra Tractors / NPPL 61/0 216 Running
35 42 4 Robert Richardson, II Chevrolet Reel Deal “Card Games” on Phantom EFX 58/0 211 Running
36 41 84 Mike Harmon Chevrolet James Otto / Muzik Mafia 55/0 72 Out of Race
37 35 0 Danny Efland Chevrolet Lori Morgan 52/0 61 Out of Race
38 33 89 Morgan Shepherd Dodge Victory In Jesus 49/0 54 Out of Race
39 39 90 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 46/0 46 Out of Race
40 40 52 Derrike Cope Chevrolet Hilton Garden Inn 43/0 38 Out of Race
41 43 255 Brad Teague Ford Bennett Classics Museum 40/0 29 Out of Race
42 37 91 Larry Gunselman Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 37/0 23 Out of Race
43 36 05 Brett Rowe Chevrolet 31-W Insulation / CertainTeed 34/0 9 Out of Race