AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch spun his wheels at the start/finish line for a few extra rotations, filling the track and grandstand with a fog of white smoke.

After waiting so long to win on the Nationwide Series again, it felt like the first time and he was going to enjoy it.

Overcoming a mid-race gaffe on pit road with a dominating performance, Busch led 142 laps at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday to end a 24-race Nationwide winless streak.

“It was a phenomenal day for us to get back to Victory Lane, feel the taste of it again,” said Busch, whose last Nationwide win was Sept. 9, 2011 at Richmond. “I was almost nervous, feeling like it was my first win even though it was, I think, No. 52 in the series. It’s nice to be back.”

Busch had a rough 2012 by his standards, finishing 13th in the Sprint Cup standings with one victory despite leading the second-most laps. He also failed to win in 22 Nationwide races for his team and came up empty in three trucks races.

Busch signed a deal to stay with Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 18 Sprint Cup car this season and agreed to race for the team on the Nationwide circuit.

He bounced back from a rough start at Daytona in the season opener by earning the pole at Phoenix and was clearly the fastest car all day during the 200-lap race around the mile oval.

Despite a penalty for entering pit road too fast, Busch eclipsed 11,000 career laps during the race and picked up his 52nd Nationwide victory, extending his record. He’s won seven times at Phoenix, including five in the Nationwide Series.

It also was Toyota’s 75th Nationwide victory, 41 of those coming with Busch at the wheel.

“He’s just gifted behind the wheel, so we’re excited about that,” JGR president J.D. Gibbs said. “Cup, Nationwide, truck, whatever he races, he’s got a gift.”

Brad Keselowski finished second and Justin Allgaier overcame body damage on his car from an early wreck to finish third. Trevor Bayne finished fourth, followed by Elliott Sadler.

Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Brian Vickers each led laps, but none of them had a shot at keeping up with Busch.

“It was pretty phenomenal how fast his car was and what he was able to do with it,” Keselowski said of Busch.

The Nationwide Series got off to an awful start at Daytona last week, when Tony Stewart’s season-opening win was marred by a 12-car crash on the final lap that left at least two dozen fans injured.

The wreck happened as the cars came around for the checkered flag and leader Regan Smith tried to block Keselowski. That triggered a chain reaction that piled up cars and sent rookie Kyle Larson’s car airborne into the fence, shearing it into pieces that flew into the grandstand.

Two injured fans remain in the hospital.

The Phoenix race had a crash involving six cars on the fourth lap and 38 laps were under caution during the race on the slick track, but no one was injured.

“It was fun out there, slipping and sliding all over the place,” Allgaier said.

Clements must undergo diversity rehab

NASCAR is sending suspended Nationwide Series driver Jeremy Clements to a sports diversity expert after he made insensitive remarks during an interview last Saturday.

NASCAR officials are hoping to get Clements, 28, back on the track soon, but he will have to work with Dr. Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida, before he’ll be allowed back in his car.

Clements was suspended indefinitely on Wednesday for violating the sanctioning body’s code of conduct for making what O’Donnell said was an “intolerable and insensitive remark.”

Hamilton turns fastest lap

At Barcelona, Spain, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton clocked the fastest lap of the preseason in Formula One testing.

Hamilton took advantage of the first blue skies and dry track this week at the Catalunya Circuit by putting in a lap of 1 minute, 20.558 seconds to record the session’s best individual time.

After one more day of final adjustments in northeastern Spain, the season opens at the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks.

Report tells Hulman-George to hang on

The Hulman-George family should retain ownership of the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, according to a report from a consulting group it hired to evaluate business operations, including running the Indianapolis 500.

The Boston Consulting Group offered a wide array of suggestions on how to better position the troubled open-wheel series and historic speedway in a 115-page report.

Among the ideas: a 15-race IndyCar schedule in major American cities held over 19 weeks; a three-race playoff with a season finale on the road course at Indy; a marketing strategy promoting IndyCar’s “daredevil drivers”; and using one U.S. television partner.