Kurt Busch wins 1st of this season
Younger brother sparks pileup on Lap 2 of race
By The Associated Press
Kurt Busch stole the spotlight from his younger brother Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee to snap a 58-race winless streak and 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. 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 total 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 boo, and Kyle Busch’s eventful evening was off to a roaring start. He sparked 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.
A frustrated Truex kicked his car in anger, and 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, desperately was trying to catch him for the win. Kurt Busch held him off and Larson, winner of the Xfinity Series race Friday night, finished second in his bid for the Bristol sweep.
The victory was the 30th of Kurt Busch’s career, first since the Daytona 500 in 2017. It was his first Bristol victory since 2006.
“I love this place,” Kurt Busch said.
The ninth driver to win this season, he 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.”
The victory was the 13th for Stewart-Haas Racing since it joined Ford last season, and the 100th Cup victory for the Fusion.
Kyle Busch wound up 20th. He led the first 70 laps of the Xfinity Series race but wrecked with a flat tire, so his Bristol weekend was a bust.
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 the 2017 race.
IndyCar
Will Power will begin his bid for a third consecutive win at Pocono Raceway from the pole. Power turned a lap of 219.511 mph Saturday to take the top spot for Sunday and perhaps bolster his bid for a championship with four races left in the IndyCar season. Power won his 53rd pole and tied AJ Foyt for second on the career list. Power and Josef Newgarden made it a 1-2 start for team owner Roger Penske.
Scott Dixon leads the championship standings as he chases his sixth IndyCar championship. Dixon starts 13th and holds a 46-point lead over 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi in the standings.
Rossi starts third Sunday in the 500-mile race.
Newgarden, the defending series champion, trails Dixon by 60 points in the standings and Power is 87 points back in fourth place.