Kyle Busch gives Gibbs team first Cup win
FORT WORTH — Kyle Busch’s return to Victory Lane only 10 races after his last win just seemed to take much longer. There were all those runner-up finishes in between, one in particular.
A runner-up finish in the 2017 season finale kept Busch from winning another NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series title, something he had to contemplate the entire offseason. Then he had three runner-up finishes in the first six races this year, including two Kevin Harvick won.
On Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, Busch, the series point leader, finished ahead of Harvick and the rest of the field for Joe Gibbs Racing’s first victory this season.
Busch stayed in front of Harvick the last 24 laps after the final restart, getting his third win at Texas and 44th of his career. The No. 18 Toyota led 116 of the 334 laps at the 1½-mile track.
Jamie McMurray finished third, ahead of Erik Jones. Ryan Blaney was fifth a day after winning the Xfinity Series race.
Since finishing 25th in the season opener at Daytona, Busch has been in the top seven the past six races. In other races:
Sebastian Vettel held on to win the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sahkir from the pole and extend his Formula One points lead over Lewis Hamilton, who finished third behind teammate Valtteri Bottas despite starting from ninth. Vettel was almost overtaken by Bottas on the last lap but made a crucial blocking move and won by 0.6 seconds.