As every season winds down there are always plenty of 'lasts' as drivers, crewmembers and sponsors move about or disappear altogether and it is a rarity for many to sign off on a winning note. But on Saturday at the one-mile Phoenix International Raceway Kyle Busch did just that as he won his final NASCAR Busch Series race for Hendrick Motorsports.
Following on from his Craftsman Truck Series win on Friday Busch led the most laps in Saturday's Arizona Travel 200 as he cruised to his fourth win in 19 starts this season and now goes into Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500k Nextel Cup race with a chance at becoming the first driver in history to take a weekend sweep of NASCAR's top three series.
Matt Kenseth finished second despite losing his power steering while Clint Bowyer, Scott Wimmer and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five. Kasey Kahne claimed sixth spot in a rare Busch start while new series champ Carl Edwards took seventh.
Jason Leffler, who is trying to hang on to third place in the overall standings over Harvick, finished eighth in the top Toyota with Jamie McMurray and veteran Ron Hornaday rounding out the top ten.
Dario Franchitti's introduction to stock cars continued in a rather rough fashion as he was involved in a late incident that brought out the red flags and set up a 'green white chequered' flag finish. The Scotsman would be classified 29th which was still a lot better than his fellow former Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr who completed less than 30 laps and finished 39th.