Kurt wins battle of Busches at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kurt Busch stole the spotlight from his younger brother Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway to grab an overdue short-track victory.
Busch won for the first time this season but sixth on the 0.533-mile bullring he once dominated. But that was before younger brother Kyle Busch learned his way around the place, and Kyle Busch has been the master of the Tennessee track.
Kyle Busch, winner of seven career Cup races at Bristol, 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 boo, and Kyle Busch’s eventful evening was off to a roaring start.
Kyle Busch triggered a 15-car accident just two laps into the race. He 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. A frustrated Truex kicked his car in anger.
As Kyle Busch was tending to his wounded race car, older brother Kurt battled Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer for the lead. Kurt Busch was relentless on the restart and got his Ford to the front, then Kyle Busch spun to bring out a ninth caution.
Kurt Busch had a good restart but Kyle Larson, on fresher tires, was desperately trying to catch him for the win. Kurt Busch held him off and Larson, winner of the Xfinity Series race on Friday night, finished second in his bid for the Bristol sweep. Kyle Busch wound up 20th.
The Cup Series is off next weekend and races again Sept. 2 in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. Denny Hamlin won last year’s race.
In Friday’s Xfinity race at Bristol, Larson capitalized on Kyle Busch’s early exit to gain his first victory ever at the track he calls his favorite.
Larson has won four of the six Xfinity Series races he has entered this season. The latest victory came hours after he earned the pole for the Cup Series event Saturday.
“I wish Kyle Busch wouldn’t have had his troubles so I could have raced him,” Larson said. “But it still feels really, really cool to win a race here, finally, at Bristol. I’ve been close so many times. This is my best racetrack by far.”
The race went into overtime after Daniel Hemric spun with two laps remaining. Larson held off a challenge from Justin Allgaier on the restart.
Allgaier ended up in third place, behind Christopher Bell.
“We had the yellow with two to go and I thought ‘Man, again? I’m going to lose another one here,’ ” Larson said.
Although Larson had never won here before Friday, this marked his eighth top-10 finish in nine Xfinity Series races at Bristol. He has finished second on this track four times — at a Cup event earlier this year and at Xfinity Series races in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
All four times, he lost to Busch, who has mastered this track throughout his career.
Busch led for the first 70 laps Friday until he got a flat right front tire that caused him to hit the wall and damaged his car enough that he couldn’t return. Busch was leading by over 31⁄2 seconds at the time he got the flat.
“I just got in the corner a little too hot, just got up into the fence a little bit,” Busch said.