MILLINGTON, Tenn., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Veteran Randy LaJoie made the right pit call and avoided late contact with a pair of drivers Sunday to win the NASCAR Busch Grand National series Sam's Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park.
The 250-lap race was scheduled for Saturday, but pushed back a day by rain.
Jay Sauter and Jeff Green were battling side by side for the top position with several laps to go and got loose momentarily after bumping on lap 248, which was all LaJoie needed.
LaJoie's Chevrolet Monte Carlo was running third as Sauter and Green made contact on the short track. LaJoie took the low path to the lead and drove to his second victory of the year and 15th of his career. LaJoie opened the season with a win in Daytona.
"They (Sauter and Green) got together and left me enough room to get by," said LaJoie, who led 29 laps and also decided to remain on track during a pit stop on lap 208 while other drivers went in.
"I knew Sauter wanted to win and Green did too. Problem was, the checkered flag is not waved in turn 3. It's waved at the start-finish line."
LaJoie, the 1996 and 1998 series champion, took the checkered flag 0.334 seconds ahead of Green's Ford Taurus. He averaged 75 miles per hour.
Green led a race-high 141 laps, while Sauter was in front 12.
Series points leader Kevin Harvick also benefited from the incident and moved ahead of Sauter to finish third in a Chevy. Jeff Purvis rounded out the top five.
Harvick, who led three times for 49 laps, extended his lead in the standings to 203 points over Green. Jason Keller, who finished seventh, fell to third, 210 points back.
Harvick needs to finish 15th or higher in each of the last three races to win the championship. He also will be able to compete in the Winston Cup Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, which was postponed to Monday.
Rookie Scott Wimmer, Ashton Lewis and Mike McLaughlin rounded out the top 10.
The race had 10 lead changes among six drivers and was completed in just under 2 1/2 hours due to 10 cautions for 66 laps.
