Busch Dominates Food City 500

BRISTOL, Tenn. – He worked high, he dashed low, he split the middle.

No matter which lane he took, Kyle Busch was the dominant driver Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Much to the dismay of his many detractors, Busch led 378 laps en route to winning the Food City 500 before a capacity crowd of 160,000.

It was the 54th straight NASCAR Cup race sellout at the venue and the first sold-out Cup event for NASCAR this season.

For Busch and the No. 18 Toyota team, his second career Sprint Cup victory at BMS had the sweet taste of redemption.

“We knew it was going to be a good racecar from our performance last fall,” Busch said. “We fine-tuned on it a little bit here and there.”

Busch led 415 laps in the Sharpie 500 at BMS last fall before Carl Edwards bumped his way to the win.

There was no stopping Busch on Sunday, who was forced to survive three extra laps after embattled rookie Joey Logano created a caution on lap 493 with a blown engine.

“You never know what’s gonna happen. That’s what so tricky about this racetrack,’’ Busch said.

True to form with the wider and smoother version of BMS, the race featured several long green flag runs. With the older and rougher Bristol surface, drivers could rely on caution periods to make adjustments to their cars.

Sunday’s event was halted by just nine cautions for 58 laps

Busch took his first lead on lap 69 with a textbook pass of Jimmie Johnson on the outside lane. After 280 laps, Busch used a mix of aggression and discipline to put half the field at least one lap down.

Denny Hamlin paid credit to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate after his second place finish.

“[Busch] just has a way of taking off,” Hamlin said. “I knew that unless we got out on pit road ahead of him on that last pit stop, it was going to be tough.”

Hamlin was hoping for more extended green-flag periods.

“I felt like we had a third-place car on the short run, and a first-place car on the long run,’’ Hamlin said. “[Busch] just has that raw speed for 20 laps that I don’t have.”

One day after an error on pit road cost him a victory in Nationwide, Busch paid credit to his crew for a series of fast and flawless stops.

“You’ll have some days where the guys on pit road just have an off day,’’ Busch said. “Today was a good day where everybody did their job.”

Three-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who has long struggled at BMS, finished third.

Perhaps the most interesting juncture of the race unfolded from lap 322-368 as Busch chased down Johnson for the lead. Busch earned the top spot with yet another clean pass on the outside.

Johnson, who led twice for 88 laps, entered the day with a basic goal.

“We need to figure how to run 500 laps here,” Johnson said. “That was my goal, and we did it. What a great day. I wish we could run another 500 laps.”

Once again, Busch accomplished his goal in impressive fashion.

“It was a really good day for us,” Busch said. “This place probably owes me a few.”

Jeff Gordon protected his points lead with a fourth-place finish, while Kasey Kahne finished fifth.

Sentimental favorite Mark Martin started from the pole, but maintained the lead for only two laps en route to a sixth-place finish. “We started the race, and we really weren’t very good,” Martin said. “One
little change and on the long run, that car was on fire.”

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. encountered handling issues, but managed a 14th-place finish.

“We worked real hard,” Earnhardt said. “We had some great pit stops, and we just had terrible track position.”

Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech head football coach and a native of Hillsville, Va., gave the prerace command to fire engines.

agregory@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2544