Memphis, TN (My Sportsbook) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, October 24. Race: Kroger on Track for the Cure 250. Site: Memphis Motorsports Park. Track: 0.75-mile oval. Start time: 3:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 250. Miles: 187.5. Last year's winner: Carl Edwards. Television: ESPN 2. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS XM Satellite.
Kyle Busch gave his championship hopes in the Nationwide Series a big boost by winning last Friday's race at Lowe's. Busch led 137 of 200 laps and easily held off Mike Bliss at the finish to end an 11-race winless streak in the series.
Busch padded his lead to 195 points over Carl Edwards with just four races remaining. Busch admits he hasn't wrapped up the title just yet, with one of Edwards' best tracks -- Memphis -- the next stop on the schedule.
"There's still a few to go," said Busch, who leads the series with seven wins this season. "It's not over, and it's definitely any man's race right now as far as Carl or myself or even [Brad Keselowski]."
Keselowski is a long shot for this year's title, as he currently trails Busch by 272 points.
Edwards won last year's race at Memphis. Busch has competed there only twice, finishing 14th in 2004 and 16th in '03.
Busch and Edwards, along with fellow Sprint Cup competitors Matt Kenseth and David Reutimann, will do the Martinsville-Memphis combo this weekend. Memphis is the final stand-alone race in Nationwide for the season.
Reutimann won his first career Nationwide race at Memphis in 2007 and then finished second there last year.
Memphis also marks the fourth and final "Dash 4 Cash" event this year. A $25,000 bonus will be awarded to the winner of the race, provided he is a full-time series regular or a part-time/limited series-only competitor. In July, Keselowski became the first driver to win the bonus from series title sponsor Nationwide Insurance when he won at Iowa. Keselowski collected $75,000 since the amount rolled over after Joey Logano won Nashville and Kentucky earlier in the year. Logano, a Sprint Cup rookie this year, was ineligible for the bonus.
Fifty-one teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Kroger on Track for the Cure 250.
