Busch, who won the spring race at Bristol in March, grabbed the lead with 68 laps remaining and then held off Mark Martin in several late-race restarts, including the final one for a four-lap shootout to the finish, to claim his fourth victory of the season and the 16th of his Sprint Cup Series career.

"I drove as hard as I could," said Busch, who had not been into Victory Lane for a Sprint Cup event since May at Richmond. "We didn't have the best car tonight, but we had a car capable enough of winning it."

Martin, who had the dominant car for most of the race with 240 laps led, challenged Busch for the lead after the last restart, but the 50-year-old driver ended up finishing one car-length behind, which prevented him from becoming the oldest race winner at Bristol.

"He gave me room, man," Martin said. "I just didn't get it done."

Busch became the first driver to win both races at Bristol in the same season since his brother, Kurt, did it in 2003. He is also tied with Martin for the most victories in the series so far this year.

"Mark Martin, what a class act he is," Busch said. "He deserved to win this race. I'm sorry he came home in second."

One year ago, Busch dominated Bristol by leading 415 of 500 laps, but Carl Edwards nudged Busch aside with 31 laps remaining to take the victory.

Busch also led 378 laps and held off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in an overtime finish to win here earlier this year.

With the victory, Busch moved up two positions in the standings to 13th, trailing 12th-place Matt Kenseth by just 34 points with two races to go before the start of the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship.

"I'm hoping this isn't a fluke to get into the Chase," Busch added. "We need to run well at Atlanta and again at Richmond. I feel like we can do it."

Martin also advanced two positions to 10th in points.

Marcos Ambrose finished third, while Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five.

Ryan Newman came in sixth, and Kurt Busch was seventh. Jimmie Johnson led 107 laps before a tire mishap on pit road cost him an opportunity for his first win at Bristol. Johnson fell back as far as 21st but rebounded for an eighth- place finish.

Dale Earnhardt finished ninth, while Matt Kenseth ended up 10th.

Tony Stewart had a frustrating night at Bristol, as he encountered issues with his radio in the early going, followed by a pit-road speeding penalty before his car later stalled on the track due to electrical problems. Stewart wound up finishing 11 laps down in 33rd.

Stewart's lead shrank to 220 points over Johnson, while Jeff Gordon fell to third in points after a 23rd-place run. Gordon had a tire rub during the mid- stages that put him one lap behind.

Clint Bowyer, attempting to keep his Chase hopes alive, was caught up in an accident with Michael Waltrip in the final laps. The incident halted the race for 11 minutes to clean up wreckage from Waltrip's destroyed car. Bowyer finished 23rd and saw his playoff chances all but end.

"It was pretty frustrating," said Bowyer, who is now 112 points behind Kenseth.

Brian Vickers, last weekend's winner at Michigan, finished 12th, but fell 39 points behind the coveted 12th spot for the Chase.