Oh, brother! A Busch steals spotlight
BRISTOL, TENN. — Kurt Busch stole the spotlight from his younger brother Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway to snap a 58-race winless streak and grab an overdue short track victory.
Busch won for the first time this season — first since the 2017 season-opening Daytona 500 — but it was his sixth victory on the 0.533-mile bullring he once dominated.
Busch once won three consecutive times on the Tennessee track and was considered the best in the business on the concrete oval.
Then his younger brother learned his way around the place, and Kyle Busch became the master of the track.
Kyle Busch has seven Cup wins at Bristol, 21 combined across NASCAR’s national series.
He’s so good that he chose the song “All I Do Is Win” by D.J. Khaled to play as he was introduced before the race. The crowd responded with a thunderous jeering, and Kyle Busch’s eventful evening was off to a roaring start.
He triggered a 15-car accident just two laps into the race, fell two laps off the pace, came back to race Martin Truex Jr. for second, and moved Truex out the way late in the race.
His late spin set up the final restart that helped Kurt Busch seal the victory.
A frustrated Truex kicked his car in anger after the incident, and as Kyle Busch was tending to his wounded race car, older brother Kurt battled StewartHaas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer for the lead.
Kurt Busch was relentless on the restart and got his Ford to the front, then came Kyle Busch’s spin for the ninth caution.
Kurt Busch had a good restart and Kyle Larson, on fresher tires, desperately tried to catch him.
Kurt Busch held him off and Larson, winner of the Xfinity Series race Friday night, finished second.
The victory was the 30th of Kurt Busch’s career and he and Kyle Busch became the only brothers in Cup history with 30 wins each.
Kyle Busch ranks fifth on Bristol’s career list, while Kurt Busch broke a tie with Jeff Gordon for sixth.
“I love this place,” Kurt Busch said.
“I always wanted to get to 30 (wins). This is a big win for me. Early on before I even won my first race I said, ‘Man, if I could win 30 races.’”
The ninth driver to win this season, Kurt Busch earned a spot in the 16-driver playoff field.
“It’s all about winning,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about not making the playoffs, so we could kind of treat these races coming up as free-for-alls, and we’re just going to keep going after it.”
Other events from an actionpacked Bristol race:
LOCKED IN: Although they have yet to win a Cup race this season, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski scored enough points to clinch berths in the playoffs.
Larson thought he’d get in via a victory at Bristol, where he’s finished second five times between Cup and Xfinity. He lost four races to Kyle Busch, now one to Kurt Busch.
“Probably the most frustrating Bristol race I’ve had just because I never really felt like I had a shot to win,” Larson said.
STILL SEEKING A BRISTOL WIN: Martin Truex Jr. has never won on a short track and felt he had a chance to snap that streak at Bristol.
He was running second behind Clint Bowyer when Kyle Busch tapped Truex’s rear bumper to cause Truex to wreck. Truex was so angry, he threw pieces of equipment to the ground and gave the side of his Toyota a kick.