Rookie Vickers wins Busch Kroger 200

CLERMONT, Ind. -- For nearly 180 laps, Brian Vickers was pecking at Shane Hmiel's bumper, never gaining enough momentum to take the lead for good.\nThen Vickers knew he had to make a move.\n"I realized, hey, it's time to go," he said.\nVickers made the decisive pass on lap 181, then held on to win the Kroger 200 Saturday night for his first career Busch Series victory.\nIt was the first victory in 47 career starts for Vickers, who at 19 is the youngest competitor in NASCAR. His unofficial winnings were $52,120.\n"Shane's a good racer. We raced hard," Vickers said. "He was cutting me off. He was doing what he had to do. I was rubbing him. I was trying to push him up. It was an awesome race. I had a lot of fun. And sitting here in victory lane is not that bad."\nVickers, who entered fifth on the Busch Series points race, started third in the 200-lap race and spent most of it in Hmiel's rearview mirror.\nHmiel, who entered ninth on the Busch Series points race, had led only 91 laps in the series and never finished better than third (Talladega).\nHmiel's speed of 110.690 was enough to get him his third career pole, and he took advantage early. Vickers narrowly trailed Hmiel most of the race, but could never sustain the needed momentum that would have given him the lead.\nHmiel lost the lead on lap 108 coming out of a pit stop under a caution flag. Vickers took the lead, losing it briefly to Ron Hornaday, before Hmiel recaptured it on lap 134.\nHmiel and Vickers practically ran side-by-side for most of the last 30 laps on the .686-mile track, thrilling the crowd at Indianapolis Raceway Park.\nVickers was on him, trying to find away around, only to be continually blocked by Hmiel. They narrowly avoided contact in what was a pretty clean race: There were only three cautions for 20 laps.\n"I wish I could say Shane and I were doing that to put on a good show," Vickers said.\nVickers, however, finally passed Hmiel for the lead on lap 181 of the 200-lap race and held on for the win in his No. 5 Chevrolet.\n"It's just now settling in," Vickers said.\nVickers twice finished second, both this season at Nazareth and Milwaukee. He had an almost certain victory taken from him in Texas after NASCAR ruled against a pass he attempted in a Winston Cup race. Vickers was black-flagged for pulling alongside a lapped car before the start/finish line on a restart with 22 laps to go and finished 25th.\nOn Saturday, Vickers displayed some of the confidence and maturity that allowed Hendrick Motorsports to take a chance on him.\n"It could have been either one," he said of a delayed first win. "It doesn't matter as long as I'm in victory lane."\nVickers had never led a lap on a short track in the NASCAR Busch Series. He led 43 laps, Hmiel led 153, and Hornaday led four.\nHmiel faded down the stretch, getting bumped by Scott Wimmer on the last lap, and finished fourth. Jason Keller was second for the second straight year, finishing 2.296 seconds behind Vickers, and Stacy Compton was third.\n"I was hoping those young guys would make a mistake and I'd drive right by," Keller said. "We just didn't stay consistent."\nScott Riggs finished fifth and extended his points lead (3,037) to seven over David Green, who was sixth.\nCompton was involved in the first caution on lap 21. Joey Clanton tried to pass Martin Truex on Turn 3, the cars crashed instead and spun into the fence. Compton couldn't avoid the mess and made it a three-car crash.\nThe crash brought out the only caution of the first 100 laps. Truex and Compton continued.\nFifteen of the 43 cars were on the lead lap when the race ended. Twelve dropped out.