The Sharpie 500 began with a stirring tribute to NASCAR’s ageless wonder. It ended with a victory bow by the sport’s resident bad boy.
Kyle Busch led the final 68 laps en route to recording his fourth Sprint Cup victory of the season late Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Pole-winner Mark Martin finished second, followed by Marcus Ambrose, Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin.
The race came down to a five-lap dash to the finish. Busch chose the outside lane on the double-file restart, and managed to hold off the charging Martin. Bristol Herald Courier
“I drove as hard as I could,” said Busch, who had not been into Victory Lane for a Sprint Cup event since May at Richmond. “We didn’t have the best car tonight, but we had a car capable enough of winning it.”
Martin, who had the dominant car for most of the race with 240 laps led, challenged Busch for the lead after the last restart, but the 50-year-old driver ended up finishing one car-length behind, which prevented him from becoming the oldest race winner at Bristol.
“He gave me room, man,” Martin said. “I just didn’t get it done.” Kansas City Star
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 2 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 3 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 4 16 Greg Biffle Ford 5 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 6 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 7 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 8 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 10 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 11 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 12 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 13 7 Casey Mears Chevrolet 14 6 David Ragan Ford 15 82 Scott Speed * Toyota 16 99 Carl Edwards Ford 17 0 David Reutimann Toyota 18 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 19 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 20 12 David Stremme Dodge 21 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 22 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 23 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 24 98 Paul Menard Ford 25 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 26 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 27 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 28 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 29 4 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 30 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 31 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 32 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 33 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 34 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 35 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 36 96 Bobby Labonte Ford 37 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 38 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 39 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet 40 8 Terry Labonte Toyota 41 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 42 37 Tony Raines Dodge 43 66 Dave Blaney Toyota
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