Kyle Busch held off older brother Kurt Busch in the closing laps of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday for his third Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of 2019 and his eighth-career series win at Bristol
“It ain't 12, that's for sure,” Kyle Busch said, comparing his Bristol wins tally to that of the track’s all-time winningest driver, Darrell Waltrip. “So I got more to go. We're getting there and it's fun. It’s the most active drivers, I guess. I think I heard that. But, you know, there's a lot more years left, hopefully.”
Kurt Busch, a six-time Bristol winner, finished second.
“It was tough battling our #1 Chevy. The Monster Energy team is doing a good job.” Kurt Busch said. But that one was tough. I really wanted to beat him. I was going to wreck him. I was wanting to stay close enough so that when we took the white, I was just going to drive straight into [turns] three and four. I mean, he’s already won. I figured he could give a little love to his brother, but no. I wanted that one bad. I feel like him right now. I’m like, ‘Ugh, I’m mad because I didn’t win.’”
The Busch brothers lined up on the front row for the final restart with 15 laps remaining in the 500-lap race after staying out during the 11th caution that came as a result of a Kyle Larson incident with 22 laps to go.
“I don't know. We're crazy,” Kyle Busch said of the decision to stay out during the final caution. “We just do what we do, try to win. It's pretty awesome to be able to snooker those guys, get our win today here at Bristol. Love this place. It was fun to battle out the brother there at the end. I know we didn't quite get side‑by‑side racing it out. I saw him working the top. I'm like, ‘I better go. I got up there.’ Was able to make some ground. Man, just awesome to be here in front of this crowd, here at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Skittles Camry wasn't the best today, but we made the most of not having the best and got everything we needed here at the end.”
Kurt Busch remained close to his brother until grazing the wall.
Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney finished third and fourth.
“Right at the end there, I thought when we got by the 2 [Brad Keselowski], I said, ‘If I can just hold him off that’s the pass for the win.’ I was pretty confident we were gonna be able to do that for 15 laps or so, and then, the caution came out and what do you do? Do you pit? Do you stay out? You know a few of them are gonna stay out. It’s really hard to pass, and by the time I got to third, those cars [Kyle and Kurt Busch] were so far ahead of me, I was stuck and was not going to get to them. It stinks when you have the fastest car and don’t win, but it’s a team sport, and it takes every piece to make it work. We had the car part figured out today, we just missed it on some other ends and just have to keep fighting hard. We got a stage win, and that was nice, and led a lot of laps, but you want to win at Bristol so bad. Bristol is the coolest track. You see the start-finish line and think you’re gonna get it, but things happen quick here.”
A third Team Penske driver, Brad Keselowski, was up front late before being black-flagged on the final restart for not following a NASCAR directive.
“Nobody could figure out the lineup,” Keselowski said. “There wasn’t enough communication, and it was just a tough deal.”
Blaney and Logano ran first and second early on in the second half of the race before Clint Bowyer got by them both just before the eighth caution of the race for debris on lap 372.
Kyle Busch took his first lead of the race on the restart that followed. Bowyer soon retook the lead, but Busch was back up front after the ninth caution of the race for an incident involving Larson and William Byron on lap 415.
“We had a good car; it’s just horribly disappointing,” Bowyer said. ”You get that close. Long runs were my strong suit. I couldn’t take off all day long. Some of those things made sense. We were down a little bit on air, and it took a little bit of time for them to come in. The problem is, when you balance around that and you just pump the air-pressure up, then, it doesn’t work, either, and you don’t handle there. It’s just disappointing.”
Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin got out of the pits first after a two-tire stop, but he was nabbed speeding on pit road, moving Busch up to the lead for the restart. Hamlin recovered from the penalty to finish fifth.
A slightly different Team Penske duo, Keselowski and Logano, got by Busch for the top-two positions in the running order on lap 445 and held those positions until the final caution.
Ty Dillon won the opening stage that ended at lap 125, taking the top spot from Bowyer as the stage ended. Dillon was in position to take the position from Bowyer at stage end after he and Bowyer stayed out when other frontrunners pitted during a late-stage caution on lap 118 when Daniel Hemric spun after contact from Ross Chastain.
Chase Elliott started on the pole and led the first 38 laps before getting caught up in an incident that began with a Ryan Preece spin and Preece attempted to stay in front of Elliott and on the lead lap. Elliott, then, received contact from Corey LaJoie, sending Elliott into a spin.
Hamlin took the lead by staying out during the resulting caution but was passed a few laps later by Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney. Jones led a few laps before an unscheduled pit stop for a cut tire. After Blaney also led laps, Bowyer took the lead just before the Hemric caution.
Other heavy hitters had problems in the opening stage. Kevin Harvick started in the proverbial hole as a result of his car failing pre-race inspection three times. After qualifying 13th on Friday, he was forced to the back for the start of the race Sunday and had to serve a pass-through penalty on pit road when the race started.
A lap-two caution for an incident involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch helped Harvick, keeping him from going more than one lap down from his early-race penalty.
“The 24 [William Byron] just got loose under me,” Almirola said of the incident. ”He struggled to get going on the initial start. He spun his tires and then was just loose and out of control that whole first lap. When we went down in turn one, he lost it under me and wiped us out. I’m pretty frustrated. You work all weekend, all week getting ready for the event, and to make it one lap is kind of uncalled for, so I’m disappointed, frustrated, but life goes on. We’ll go to Richmond.”
An unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel during the opening stage put Harvick four laps down. Larson also had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel in the first stage.
Harvick finally got back on the lead lap during the final caution of the race and finished 13th.
Logano was the leader of stage two at the halfway point of the 500-lap race after dominating the stage.
After pitting during the Hemric caution along with most of the frontrunners, Logano and teammate Keselowski stayed out and restarted on the front row for the second stage.
Keselowski was the leader at the start of stage two, but 20 laps into the stage, Logano took the lead and led throughout the remainder of the stage.
While the yellow flag waved three times for on-track incidents in the first 125-lap stage, a Matt Tifft wreck on lap 213 was the only caution-causing incident in the second stage. On the restart following Tifft’s issue, Keselowski lost positions, and Martin Truex Jr. took the position second to Logano.
Logano, though, was joined up front by teammate, Blaney, with fewer than 15 laps remaining in the stage. Blaney still was second to Logano at the end of stage two, while Truex was penalized for pitting while pit road was closed, stopping for as wheel issue in the final two laps of the stage.
Logano passed Elliott to put him a lap down on lap 209 as Elliott battled a power steering problem. Elliott got back on the lead lap, courtesy of a free pass during Tifft’s caution.
Finishing sixth through 10th were Paul Menard, Bowyer, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson.
"We did make a jump in our performance, so I hope we can find another chunk that quickly that will put us in that top-five mix consistently,” Johnson said. ”I think we are going to right way, and I am very optimistic about that, so I am very thankful and grateful for that. We will celebrate these small victories and get ready for the big one."