An enthusiastic blessing aroused fans leading up to the parade laps for the Nationwide Dollar General 300 Friday night. The excitement was a welcome change from the mood inspired by cold temperatures and moderate moisture in the air.

Lap 14 brought the first caution of the night, as Reed Sorenson's No. 10 Dollar General Toyota, in pink to support the Search for the Cure, slid up the track coming out of turn 4 in front of the No. 17 Ford of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. While there was no immediate contact, Ricky checked up and the No. 27 behind him could not. All three cars suffered damage, with the No. 10 and No. 27 able to continue. Ricky was evaluated and released from the care center as his crew assessed the chances of returning to the track.

One of the subsequent incidents ruined Steven Wallace's night, and the run of Kevin Hamlin as a result of David Gilliland in the No. 1 Miccosukee Chevy attempting a four-wide pass to the inside while the No. 81 was coming down.

Lowe's Motor Speedway had a version of the "Big One" under the lights as lap 70 saw the 6 Erik Darnell, 09 John Wes Townley, 16 Matt Kenseth, 20 Joey Logano, 23 Ken Butler III, and 38 Jason Leffler caught up in turn 2 while Kasey Kahne barely squeaked by on the outside driving the #43 Richard Petty Motorsports Auto Value Bumper-to-Bumper Toyota. Leffler took the brunt of responsibility for the event, claiming he was actually "too loose to be running third" as he restarted.

There seemed to be more caution laps than green runs with only 29 cars on the track by Lap 80. Jeff Burton and Brad Keselowski had proven themselves the class of the field by that time, with Kyle Busch not far behind. The restart from that debris caution resulted in Kyle taking the lead.

Concerns about nearby rain increased anxieties around the track but at halfway there was no evidence the concerns were warranted. Something about the distraction cooled down the on-track conflicts, though as the first reasonable length green flag run gave Kyle Busch a 3.391 second lead by then.

Kasey Kahne brought the No. 43 in to have a fallen window net pinned up, at lap 104. He would eventually return from 2 laps lost to an eighth place finish.

No further cautions flew until Steven Wallace returned to the track, and after a handful of cautious laps his still heavily damaged car spun for the last yellow. The team chose to return to the garage for the night rather than risk a repeat.

Kyle held on for the win, with a lead nearly as large as the one he'd built before the 66 spun. The 15 of Michael Annet finished 13th, the last car on the lead lap. Second was Mike Bliss in the 11 and Blaniacs rejoiced to see Dave Blaney in the 87 rounding out the top 3 finishers.

"Kyle Continued his near-domination of the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series events that he enters." "One fan favorite was the resurrection of the paint scheme made famous by Richard Petty."

MORE NASCAR NEWS