HAMPTON, Ga. -- Jeff Burton didn't need any last-lap heroics this time. But he did need a little luck.

The longtime NASCAR star made it two Busch Series victories in a row Saturday, easily holding off Richard Childress Racing teammate and reigning Busch champion Kevin Harvick to win the Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

A week ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Burton made a late charge to catch Kyle Busch, colliding with the leader and sending Busch crashing into the wall as he zoomed past just before the checkered flag. Busch slid backward across the finish line in second.

The Las Vegas native again appeared to be on the way to a victory Saturday, building leads of a full straightaway before the last of six caution flags came out on lap 167 of the 195-lap race when Todd Kluever hit the wall after being hit from behind by open-wheel star Sam Hornish Jr.

All the leaders pitted and Busch easily led everyone back onto the track. But a NASCAR official spotted a missing lugnut on Busch's left front wheel and called him back into the pits. The Hendrick Motorsports driver fell back to 15th for the restart.

The race restarted on lap 174 and Busch charged through the field. He got to third before running out of laps.

Series points leader Carl Edwards finished fourth, followed by Casey Mears, Clint Bowyer in the third RCR car, Kasey Kahne, rookie Juan Montoya -- the former Formula One star's best stock car finish on an oval -- Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart -- all cup regulars who will race on the 1.5-mile oval in today's Kobalt Tools 500.

Stewart was penalized for pitting too soon during the last caution and restarted just behind Busch in 16th. But he was not able to get through the traffic as well as Busch.

"Obviously, the 5 car (Busch) was the class of the field," said Burton, who got his 24th Busch victory. "We thought we might have something for him there for a while, but he was just too fast. He was in another league."

Busch was bitterly disappointed again.

"All in all it's just a frustrating, disappointing day," the 21-year-old said. "It's so hard to win one of these things and, when you have a car that's so good and you can't capitalize, you're ready to go home and just cry.

"I think this week's worse (than Las Vegas) because you come down pit road and you depend on those guys. They missed the lug or it fell off or whatever. Last week there wasn't anything else I could have done except maybe squeezed (Burton) up closer to the wall."

Busch said he still thought he had a shot at the win after the late restart.

"I thought we could get through and maybe have a shot at it, but I got held up a few times and a couple of guys raced me a little harder than I thought they would," Busch said. "The guys from second through fifth were bunched up there in front of me."

The only problem Burton had in the race was a recurring vibration in his No. 29 Chevrolet that worried him for a while.

"I had to pit with a big vibration there at one point and I thought it was over then. But they found what was wrong," he said. "Then I got another vibration with about five laps to go, but I couldn't pit then."

• NHRA -- At Gainesville, Fla., Greg Anderson and Angelle Sampey used record performances to top qualifying in the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.

Larry Dixon (Top Fuel) and Robert Hight (Funny Car) also took No. 1 qualifying positions at the third of 23 events in the NHRA Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.

Anderson had the first Pro Stock run in excess of 210 mph when he blasted to 211.20 in his Pontiac GTO, and Sampey equaled the quickest Pro Stock Motorcycle run with her 6.911-second run on a Suzuki. It was Anderson's 53rd career No. 1, and the 40th for Sampey.

• SUPERCROSS -- At Orlando, Fla., Kawasaki's James Stewart held off Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael to win his eighth Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series race of the year in front of 42,991 fans at the Citrus Bowl.

• SEBRING -- At Sebring, Fla., Frank Biela became the second four-time winner in the history of the Twelve Hours of Sebring, teaming with Emmanuel Pirro and Marco Werner to drive an Audi R10/TDI prototype to a six-lap victory.