Busch just beats out Kenseth

Kyle Busch overcame an early penalty and then won a side-by-side duel with Matt Kenseth to win the NASCAR Busch Series race Saturday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

Busch kept his Chevrolet in front of Kenseth’s Ford by less than a car length at the finish line to win the Yellow Transportation 300 in front of 82,000.

“I was able to get clear of [Kenseth] and I just had to block his air from there” to keep the lead, Busch said.

It was his third Busch Series victory of the year, and Busch became the seventh different winner in the seven series races held since the 1.5-mile speedway opened in 2001.

Casey Mears was third and Clint Bowyer, a native of Emporia, Kan., was fourth.

All four are drivers in NASCAR’s premier Nextel Cup Series who also compete in the second-tier Busch Series.

Kenseth, the pole-sitter, led 65 of the race’s 200 laps but lost the lead to Busch with 17 laps remaining.

A caution period then set up the final restart with 13 laps to go, and Kenseth tried several times to pass Busch. He nearly pulled even on the final lap but Busch held him off.

Busch, 22, also had to overcome an early speeding penalty on pit road that sent him to the rear of the field.

-- Jim Peltz

Kevin Callahan held off Tim Huddleston during the final laps to get his first victory in the Auto Club Late Model 40-lap feature division race at Irwindale Speedway. Huddleston finished in second place, clinching the division championship, his second in the last three years.

Lewis Hamilton won the pole for today’s Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway in the rain and fog, beating McLaren teammate and rival Fernando Alonso.