After being given the Sprint Cup Series points lead courtesy of NASCAR's 100-point penalty to Carl Edwards on Wednesday Kyle Busch looked on course to add the Nationwide Series championship lead to his Cup and Truck tallies as he dominated the majority of Saturday's Nicorette 300.
But a blown tyre and subsequent impact with the Atlanta Motor Speedway SAFER barriers put paid to Busch's chances and allowed Matt Kenseth to sneak through and claim an unlikely victory.
Kenseth picked up the pieces left by Busch's unscheduled departure and then survived a number of late restarts, including one that led to a green-white-chequered flag finish, to beat Kevin Harvick, defending Nicorette 300 winner and polesitter Jeff Burton and defending series champion Edwards to the stripe.
Bobby Labonte drove a car entered by Richard Childress Racing to take fifth place with the emerging talent of JR Motorsports' Brad Keselowski leading the non Cup Series drivers home in sixth position.
Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Kasey Kahne and David Reutimann rounded out the top ten with Australian Marcos Ambrose picking up his first decent result of the year with an eleventh place effort in his JTG Racing Ford.
Dale Earnhardt Jr was involved in a late race accident and fell from the lead pack to 15th while Busch eventually crossed the line in 24th position. Dario Franchitti had a tough day and finished five laps down in 28th position.
With erstwhile points leader Tony Stewart not racing on Saturday and Busch finishing down the order 2006 series champion Harvick now takes over the points lead from Edwards, Busch, David Ragan and Clint Bowyer with the leading non Cup driver, Mike Bliss, already more than 130 points back in eighth place overall.
Cold temperatures and an early morning snow flurry contributed to one of the smallest crowds seen at any non rain delayed Nationwide Series race in many years.
![Matt Kenseth, Roush-Fenway Racing Nationwide Series Ford. [Pic Credit image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/416197.jpg)
