Busch blows past field to take first win at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. Kyle Busch led 377 of 400 laps in a dominating Coca-Cola 600 run at Charlotte Motor Speedway to finally break through with a points-race victory at the only NASCAR Cup track that had eluded him.

Busch started on the pole, won every stage in the circuit’s longest race and left everyone else in the field fighting for second on the way to his fourth victory of the season.

The victory gave Busch a pointsrace win at every NASCAR track on the schedule.

“I don’t know if it has ever been done before but the first one ever to check off all of the tracks and get it all done,” Busch said.

“I don’t want to go to any new ones so now we just have to start the whole process over.”

Martin Truex Jr. was second, some four seconds behind.

It was two years ago Truex had his own mind-boggling performance, leading 392 of 400 laps for a NASCAR record 588 of 600 miles to win at Charlotte.

Kevin Harvick’s try for a third straight points win this month ended with an early accident.

Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, was third, followed by Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson.

This race figured to be a match race between NASCAR’s two hottest drivers in Busch and Harvick.

Harvick had won five times, including the past two points events and the All-Star race here last week.

Instead, Harvick’s race ended early after an accident on lap 83.

Harvick hit the wall, cut a front tire and trailed sparks on the track toward the garage.