Bristol, TN (Sports Network) - For the second straight day, Kyle Busch put on
a dominating performance at Bristol Motor Speedway, but this time he drove
into victory lane by taking Sunday's Food City 500.
Busch led 378 of 503 laps and held off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny
Hamlin in a green-white-checkered finish to claim his second Sprint Cup Series
victory of the season and the 14th of his career.
On Saturday, Busch led 156 of the first 254 laps in the Nationwide Series
race, but during his last pit stop, a tire bounced off the inside wall and
rolled away from his pit stall. He was hit with a pass-through penalty and had
to restart in 14th. Busch ended up finishing sixth, while Kevin Harvick
captured the victory.
"We had a good racecar today," Busch said. "When we got behind on pit road
there, we drove back up through. We passed Denny after a few laps, then we
passed (Jimmie) Jimmie when he got in traffic a little bit. Traffic was just
real tough. Everyone runs equal side by side, and it's so hard to get by guys.
"Yesterday was yesterday. We put that behind us. It's one you'll never get
back. It's lost, gone. The trophy is not at my house. It's at Harvick's. We
looked forward to today. Everybody put their job from yesterday behind them,
but thought about how to make today better and not have those same mistakes
happen again."
In August, he led 415 of 500 laps at Bristol, but lost the race when Carl
Edwards nudged him aside in the closing stages. Edwards went on to win the
night event here for the second year in a row.
Nicknamed "Wild Thing," Busch won at Bristol for the first time two years
ago when he took the checkered flag for the debut of NASCAR's Car of
Tomorrow.
"Glad we could win again at Bristol," he said. "I think it's three years in a
row I've won here, which is pretty cool."
JGR driver Joey Logano blew an engine on lap 493 to set up the overtime
finish. On the final restart, Busch quickly pulled away from Hamlin and then
beat him to the finish line by 0.391 seconds.
"When we had that caution about 50 or 60 to go, I knew it was going to be
tough, unless we got out on pit road first to have anything for those guys."
Hamlin said. "(Busch's) car just took off so well. Luckily we were able to
stay within a couple car lengths of him pretty much for the entire end. We're
just fortunate to be able to battle our teammate and get a 1-2 finish."
The Busch brothers have now won the last three Sprint Cup races, with Kyle
Busch scoring the victory on March 1 at Las Vegas and then Kurt Busch picking
up the win the following week at Atlanta. The duo combined for four straight
victories during the 2008 season.
Three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson finished third, while his
Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon was fourth. Kasey Kahne completed
the top-five.
"I'm very pleased," said Johnson, who tied his 2004 career-best finish at
Bristol. "I wish we could go race again for 500 more laps because a
couple small adjustments, the rhythm I was picking up of the racetrack,
things were really starting to make sense to me. So great effort."
Mark Martin, the pole sitter, posted his best finish of the year with a sixth-
place run. Ryan Newman was seventh, followed by Jeff Burton,Juan Pablo Montoya
and Marcos Ambrose, who overcame engine trouble in the late-going.
Despite nine cautions, the 500-lap race ran relatively calm with a few notable
on-track incidents.
On lap 60, Michael Waltrip slid up into Todd Bodine and smacked him into the
wall. Kurt Busch hit Bodine from behind and suffered slight damage to the
front of his car. Aric Almirola was also involved in the incident. Kurt Busch
rebounded with an 11th-place finish.
Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya made contact on lap 123, with Montoya
putting McMurray into a spin after tapping him in the rear. Montoya was warned
by NASCAR for aggressive driving. McMurray, meanwhile, spun around again and
made contact with the wall on lap 189. He fell nine laps behind and later
finished 37th.
Kevin Harvick cut a tire and hit the wall on lap 441, setting up the final
round of pit stops. Kyle Busch was the quickest off of pit road with Hamlin in
second.
Gordon increased his points lead to 76 over Kurt Busch, who moved up to
second. With the victory, Kyle Busch climbed up three positions to fourth in
points (-85). Greg Biffle took the biggest tumble in points as he fell from
10th to 18th after a 39th-place finish. Biffle, who suffered bruised ribs in a
boating accident early last week, lost a cylinder late in the race.
Travis Kvapil finished 18th in what might be his final ride in the No.28 Ford
for Yates Racing. The team will cease operation this week if sponsorship can
not be found. Yates has secured full sponsorship for drivers Paul Menard and
Bobby Labonte this season.
The series heads to Martinsville Speedway for next Sunday's Goody's Fast Pain
Relief 500.