Busch passes Larson to win rain-delayed race

— Kyle Busch was all smiles and Kyle Larson was all scowls.

Busch passed Larson with five laps remaining at Bristol Motor Speedway on Monday to win his second straight Cup Series race, culminating a rain-delayed weekend when temperatures dipped into the high 30s.

Busch celebrated by thrusting his arms in the air and with a traditional bow to the crowd on top of his No. 18 Toyota while the snow began falling — a fitting end to a long weather-stalled weekend.

Busch said after the race that he didn’t have the best car, but “we had the best car right at the end.”

The loss left Larson, who led a race-high 200 laps, extremely frustrated.

“I feel like every time I race here I almost get a win,” Larson said of his second-place finish. “I’ve been beat by Kyle (Busch) about every time I race here, too, so that gets frustrating after a while.”

It was Busch’s 45th career Cup Series win, moving him ahead of Bill Elliott into sole possession of 16th place.

It also was his seventh win at Bristol, while Larson has yet to win at the half-mile track.

Coincidentally, Busch won with the aid of longtime nemesis Brad Keselowski, who wrecked with 30 laps left, bringing out the caution flag.

Larson appeared to have the car to beat on Monday, running well ahead of the pack on long green flag runs. But after Busch took on tires during the yellow flag stop, he knew he was back in the race with 22 laps to go. He finally caught Larson with five laps left, bumped him out of the way and scooted by.

Larson made a late charge but couldn’t catch him.

“When it comes down to crunch time you gotta go,” Busch said.

Asked if Keselowski had moved up on his list of favorites, Busch laughed and said, “That’s pushing it too far.”

“I kind felt bad for him, maybe that much,” Busch said, pinching his thumb and index finger close together. “But it certainly helped our cause. So it was much appreciated, let’s go with that.”