Busch ends 36-race winless streak

Kyle Busch used a bump-andrun on Kevin Harvick to take the lead and held on to snap a 36-race losing streak and win the NASCAR Cup race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday.

LONG POND, PA. » Kyle Busch used a bump-and-run on Kevin Harvick to take the lead and held on to snap a 36-race losing streak and win the NASCAR Cup race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday.

Busch won for the first time this season in the No. 18 Toyota and won for the first time ever at Pocono. Busch had led more than 1,000 laps this season entering the race. He was racing for the lead last weekend in the Brickyard 400 when he wrecked with Martin Truex Jr., which led to a pit road altercation between members of both teams.

Busch won from the pole and gave Toyota its 100th Cup win since its 2007 debut.

Busch, the 2015 Cup champion, had never gone a full season without winning a race. Charlotte Motor Speedway is now the only track where he’s failed to win.

“I never thought this day would happen,” Busch said.

He also won his 176th career NASCAR race over the Cup, Xfinity and Truck series.

“We’ve all been fighting all year long and just wasn’t sure why,” Busch said. “This is something I’ve been waiting for for a long, long time. It’s been a frustrating year but an awesome day today.”

Harvick finished second, followed by Truex, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. Harvick, who hasn’t won in 34 career races at Pocono, said he had nothing for Busch down the stretch.

“There was no battle. He was way faster than we were,” Harvick said.

Busch had seven topfive finishes and was runner-up to Austin Dillon in the Coca-Cola 600. All the near misses have gnawed at Busch, who won the AllStar race. He won for the first time since the 2016 Brickyard 400.

Busch earned a spot in NASCAR’s playoffs. There are just three open spots and five races left before the field is set.

Other items of note at Pocono:

The big one

An eight-car wreck on the first lap knocked Aric Almirola and Matt DiBenedetto out of the race. Matt Kenseth got loose and spun to trigger the accident.

Almirola missed two months of the season with a fractured vertebra suffered in a race at Kansas.

“Sort of a bummer not to even make a whole lap,” he said.

Johnson wreck

Jimmie Johnson wrecked and did not finish for the third time in the last four races.

Johnson connected with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne and was spun into the wall.

The seven-time Cup champion also crashed out of the first Pocono race in June.

MATT SLOCUM — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Kyle Busch leads the pack during Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway.