Kurt Busch Returns to Victory Lane at Martinsville

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Kurt Busch returned to victory lane on Sunday after snapping an 83-race winless after winning the STP 500 from Martinsville Speedway.

The win was his first with Stewart-Haas Racing, who added a fourth team for Busch this year.  SHR uses Hendrick Motorsports engines, and Busch said that was definitely a factor in the win.

Photo courtesy Chris Graythen/Getty Images

“I didn’t know if we’d be able to do it, the 48 [of Jimmie Johnson] is king here, so is the 24 [of Jeff Gordon],” Busch said in victory lane.  “If you can’t beat them, join them.  We have Hendrick chassis and Hendrick engines at Stewart-Haas.”

Practice was rained out on Saturday, and Busch joked that that may have been helpful in his victory today.

“Now we know what to do on Saturday; don’t practice.  We can’t dial out the car.”

Earlier in the race, Busch said his race was over after a run-in on pit road with Brad Keselowski.  Busch even went as far as to say he would punch Keselowski in the face, but that none of that mattered in victory lane.

“We won, we aren’t worried about any of that nonsense now.”

Busch had to outrun Johnson, who led a race-high 296 laps.  He said his car just got looser as the race wound down, and that is what cost him the victory.

“I’d been loose in the final third of the race and was just hanging on there,” Johnson said.  “When he [Busch] got by me, I’d hoped he’d fall off, and we got back by him but we couldn’t hold on.  Just a little too loose there to get the win.”

The race was dominated early by Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano, who combined to lead 371 of the 500 laps on Sunday.  

Kyle Busch started on the pole, but he wasn’t able to lead for long because the first caution came out on the second lap when the field stacked up and Parker Kligerman spun.  

Busch led the field back to the green flag, but Johnson had taken the lead for the first time by the time competition caution came out on lap 40.

During the next run, Johnson traded the lead with Kenseth and Logano.  Johnson was leading when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit the wall on lap 103 to bring out the third caution.

When the race went back to green, Kenseth and Logano raced for the lead until Michael Annett, Travis Kvapil, David Gilliland and Michael McDowell got together to bring out another caution.

Logano led the field back to the restart, and he led until Johnson passed him for the top spot.  Greg Biffle passed Johnson for the lead, and Biffle led until the Casey Mears spun on lap 170.

Marcos Ambrose took over the lead during the caution, and he led until Kenseth took the lead on lap 196.  On lap 200, Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. got together to bring out the caution.

A string of cautions kept the field bunched together, and Clint Bowyer raced hard with Johnson for the lead following a caution on lap 251.  Johnson continued to lead throughout four of the last five cautions, but Bowyer caught him on lap 450.  

Carl Edwards spun on lap 459 to bring out the final caution.  The field came down to make their final pit stops, and Bowyer was leading when the field came down.  Johnson won the race out of the pits, and Bowyer lost nine positions, which dropped him to 10^th and out of contention.

Johnson led the field during the final restart, but Kurt Busch stayed right on his bumper.  Busch took the lead on lap 473, but Johnson got back around him on lap 483.  After racing hard, Busch got around Johnson for the final time on lap 490.  Busch was able to lead Johnson through lapped traffic to win the race.

Here are the unofficial results:

1. Kurt Busch

2. Jimmie Johnson

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4. Joey Logano

5. Marcos Ambrose

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Aric Almirola

9. Clint Bowyer

10. Paul Menard

11. AJ Allmendinger

12. Jeff Gordon

13. Carl Edwards

14. Kyle Busch

15. Austin Dillon

16. Brian Vickers

17. Tony Stewart

18. Greg Biffle

19. Denny Hamlin

20. Ryan Newman

21. Martin Truex Jr.

22. Kasey Kahne

23. Justin Allgaier

24. Casey Mears

25. Landon Cassill

26. David Gilliland

27. Kyle Larson

28. David Ragan

29. Cole Whitt

30. Ryan Truex

31. Michael Annett

32. Danica Patrick

33. Travis Kvapil

34. Reed Sorenson

35. Josh Wise

36. Alex Bowman

37. Michael McDowell

38. Brad Keselowski

39. David Stremme

40. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

41. Parker Kligerman

42. Jamie McMurray

43. Joe Nemechek

Next week, the Sprint Cup Series heads down south to Texas Motor Speedway.  The Duck Commander 500 will be next Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EST, only on FOX.

Photo courtesy Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images