Brothers steal the show

NASCAR CUP BRISTOL (USA) AUGUST 18 ROUND 24/36

Kurt Busch (left) ended a 58-race winless streak when he took victory in the NASCAR Cup Bristol night race with his Stewart-haas Racing Ford Fusion, but an incident-packed outing for his brother Kyle stole the headlines.

After sliding into Penske’s Ryan Blaney and triggering a 12-car pile-up on only the second lap of the 500-tour event, pre-race favourite Kyle Busch’s Toyota was battle-scarred and two laps down.

The seven-time Bristol winner fought back through the field and, with 70 laps remaining, his Joe Gibbs Racing car had caught Martin Truex Jr for second. The battle ended prematurely when he tagged the rear of the reigning champion, pitching Truex into the infield wall and out of the race.

Furniture Row Racing star Truex had previously threatened to take the lead away from Clint Bowyer, conceding afterwards that he had “been too nice” in trying to make a contact-free move in a notoriously physical short-track race.

With Truex out and Busch’s race over after contact with Chris Buescher, Kurt Busch rose from the periphery of the top 10 to take the lead from Bowyer with two “perfect” late-race restarts and so guaranteed his place in the playoffs.