Kyle Busch has his 3rd Texas triumph
Win is 1st of season for Joe Gibbs team; Harvick runs 2nd.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — 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 Cup Series championship, something he had to contemplate the entire offseason. Then he had three runner-up finishes in the first six races this year, including two that Kevin Harvick won.
On Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, points leader Busch finished ahead of Harvick and the rest of the field for Joe Gibbs Racing’s first victory this season.
“Certainly being that close, it gets a little old a little faster,” Busch said.
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 last six races.
Harvick, who won at Texas in November, led 87 of the first 129 laps and won the first stage. But he had issues on pit road, including a strange incident during a caution when a lugnut popped loose and into the jack. He dropped from first to ninth on that stop, then had to come back in a few laps later because of a loose wheel. There was another stop when Harvick, who dropped back as far as 27th and a lap behind the leader, got a penalty for an extra man over the wall when a tire got loose in the pit.
Different 1.5 winner: Harvick and reigning Cup Series champ Martin Truex Jr. had won the previous eight Cup races on 1½-mile tracks. Truex had won five and Harvick the other three, including the first two this season.
But Truex wasn’t even around for the finish of this one. The first 85-lap stage ended under caution after a front right tire blew on his No. 78 Toyota, which shot up the track and slammed hard into the outer wall. Truex, second to Harvick at the time, finished last in the 37-car field.
Top 10 for Stewart-Haas: Kurt Busch, the pole sitter, finished seventh. Stewart-Haas Racing had the top three starters in a race for the first time with Harvick, Busch and Clint Bowyer, and all finished their Fords in the top 10. Bowyer, coming off a win two weeks ago at Martinsville to end his 190-race winless streak, was ninth.
Champ’s streak at 30: Jimmie Johnson’s careerlong winless streak reached 30 races after the seven-time Cup Series champ was taken out in a seven-car incident on the first lap after the restart following the completion of the second stage. Denny Hamlin got loose and spun in front of Johnson, who has 83 career wins but hasn’t been to Victory Lane since Dover last June.
Top 10 rookies: Bubba Wallace and William Byron, the two rookies in the series, both finished in the top 10. Wallace was eighth, the first time he’s been better than 20th since a runner-up finish at the Daytona 500 in the season opener. Byron was 10th for his first top10 finish.
Saturday’s Games Sunday’s Games
(At) 76ers 109, Mavericks 97: J.J. Redick scored 18 points as Philadelphia matched a franchise record with its 14th consecutive victory. Ben Simmons added 16 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, and Robert Covington had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Two years after going 10-72, the Sixers earned home advantage in the first round of the playoffs and their first 50-win season since Allen Iverson’s 2000-01 team, which lost in the Finals. The only other time the Sixers won 14 straight in a single season, Dr. J and Moses Malone delivered Philadelphia its last NBA title in 1983.
Hawks 112, (at) Celtics 106: Taurean Prince scored 33 points, getting help from Isaiah Taylor and Dewayne Dedmon down the stretch, as Atlanta toppled playoff-bound Boston. Taylor and Dedmon scored nine straight points for the Hawks after they trailed 103-101 with 2 minutes remaining. With the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference already locked up, Celtics coach Brad Stevens left Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier on the bench for the entire fourth quarter.
Pacers 123, (at) Hornets 117: Domantas Sabonis scored a career-high 30 and Victor Oladipo had 27 points on 12-of-15 shooting as Indiana kept alive its slim hopes for the Central Division title. Lance Stephenson, a former Hornet, had 10 rebounds, 10 assists and eight points for the Pacers.
Jazz 112, (at) Lakers 97: Donovan Mitchell scored 28 to help Utah clinch a playoff berth in the crowded Western Conference, with five teams still in the running for the other four positions before the regular season ends Wednesday.
(At) Grizzlies 130, Pistons 117: MarShon Brooks scored 25 and Dillon Brooks added 22 points as Memphis snapped a four-game losing streak.
(At) Raptors 112, Magic 101: C.J. Miles scored 22 and OG Anunoby had a career-high 21 points as Toronto extended its club records for wins (58) and home wins (34).
Warriors at Suns: Late
NBA notes
Hornets: Mitch Kupchak was named president of basketball operations and general manager. Club owner Michael Jordan called Kupchak, a fellow former North Carolina Tar Heel, a“proven winner.”As a player and executive, Kupchak has been a part of 10 NBA championship teams. He won three as a player and seven as a Lakers executive. He replaces Rich Cho, who was fired earlier this season.