Busch Brothers Finish 1-2 at Bristol's Food City 500

USAToday Photo

BRISTOL, TN – RIS - The Busch brothers finished one-two in Sunday’s Food City 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race.  Kyle won and brother Kurt finished second.  Kyle was spun on Lap 2 and used a “no-pit” stop in the closing laps to drive away and get the win.  Kurt was up front most of the day and after leaders Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Brad Keselowski came to pit road,  he was second and fought his younger brother for the lead.  Kyle got the upper hand and the trophy.  It was Kyle’s third win of the year.

Busch got dumped on the second lap of Sunday’s race at Bristol by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. But he ended up winning the race anyway thanks to a decision to not pit when a caution flag flew with 22 laps to go.

Busch was third when the caution came out but Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski pitted ahead of him. Busch and crew chief Adam Stevens decided to stay out and that decision paid off handsomely as Busch drove away from his brother Kurt for his third win in the first eight races of 2019.

“I really wanted to beat him,” Kurt Busch said. “I was going to wreck him. I wanted to stay close enough so that when we took the white flag I was going to just drive straight into [turn 3 and 4]. He’s already won, I figured he could give a little love to his brother.”

Kyle Busch’s win continues the NASCAR streak of Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske drivers dominating 2019. Busch and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin have combined to win five races while Keselowski and Logano have won the other three. It’s the first time in NASCAR’s modern era (1972-present) that two teams have combined to win the first eight races of a season.

The first stage which included the unusual second-lap crash was won by Ty Dillon. Usual track ace Kevin Harvick failed inspection and had to go the end of the field and suffer a pass-through penalty.  He ended up finishing 13th.  Logano climbed through the field to finish third while his teammate Ryan Blaney was fourth. Keselowski finished 18th after he was black flagged because he wasn’t in the right starting position when the race restarted with 14 laps to go, a ruling that was questioned by both the No. 2 team and television commentators.  NASCAR’s scoring system originally scored Keselowski ahead of cars that had stayed on the track. Understandably, Keselowski wanted to be where NASCAR had originally scored him. Understandably, NASCAR wanted Keselowski behind the cars that didn’t pit.

That battle didn’t get resolved before NASCAR threw the green flag, which meant a restart that looked like a three-wide scramble.  Keselowski should have lined up seventh and on the inside of the fourth row. For whatever reason, he didn’t. It’s mostly clear that NASCAR’s scoring system initially showed that he wasn’t supposed to be there. Even though he was supposed to be there.

With few laps remaining, it appeared that NASCAR wanted to give the drivers enough time to race to the finish.  Was it a mistake?  Where are the days when the caution was held until everyone is in the proper position before throwing the green flag?  I imagine Keselowski, who had a fast car, was asking the same question.

Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney were the highest finishing Ford drivers of the race, and they were among the two drivers who came into the pits for new tires during this caution flag period. They finished in third and fourth place in their #22 Ford and #12 Ford, respectively. Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski was issued a late drive-through penalty for committing a restart violation, dropping him out of contention. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five by finishing in fifth in his #11 Toyota.

Wood Brothers Racing’s Paul Menard, Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez, and Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman gave Ford drivers six of the top nine positions by finishing in sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth place in their #21 Ford, #14 Ford, #41 Ford and #6 Ford, respectively.

Unofficial Race Results: 59th Annual Food City 500 - Bristol Motor Speedway - April 7, 2019 - Bristol, TN –

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, St2, Pts, Status
1) 17, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Skittles Toyota, 500, 3, 71, 5, 6, 5, 51, Running
2) 27, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 500, , , , , 6, 40, Running
3) 7, Joey Logano, No. 22 Autotrader Ford, 500, 5, 146, 1, 4, 1, 51, Running
4) 3, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 PPG Ford, 500, 3, 158, , 7, 2, 46, Running
5) 5, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 500, 1, 7, , , , 32, Running
6) 9, Paul Menard, No. 21 Menards/Sylvania Ford, 500, , , , 8, , 34, Running
7) 8, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas Automation Ford, 500, 5, 24, , 2, 8, 42, Running
8) 20, Daniel Suarez, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford, 500, , , , , 10, 30, Running
9) 11, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford, 500, , , , , 3, 36, Running
10) 10, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 500, , , , 5, , 33, Running
11) 1, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 500, 1, 38, , 10, , 27, Running
12) 21, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 95 LFR Pro League Toyota, 500, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 13, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford, 500, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 15, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Symbicort Chevrolet, 500, , , , , 9, 25, Running
15) 24, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 500, 1, 6, 1, 1, , 32, Running
16) 2, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 500, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 23, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Auto Owners Insurance Toyota, 499, , , , 9, , 22, Running
18) 12, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 499, 2, 40, , 3, 4, 34, Running
19) 16, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 28, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Blue-Emu Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 22, David Ragan, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford, 498, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 25, Chris Buescher, No. 37 Bush's Beans Chevrolet, 498, , , , , 7, 19, Running
23) 14, Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 497, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 4, Erik Jones, No. 20 CRAFTSMAN Racing for a Miracle Toyota, 497, 1, 10, , , , 13, Running
25) 30, Ryan Preece #, No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 496, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 31, Landon Cassill, No. 00 StarCom Fiber Chevrolet, 495, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 29, Matt Tifft #, No. 36 Surface Sunscreen/Tunity Ford, 494, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 18, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 493, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 37, Ross Chastain(i), No. 15 Rim Riderz Chevrolet, 491, , , , , , 0, Running
30) 26, Daniel Hemric #, No. 8 Caterpillar/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 490, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 34, Bayley Currey #, No. 52 Belmont Classic Cars Chevrolet, 488, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 36, Quin Houff, No. 77 FALCI Adaptve Motorsports Chevrolet, 476, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 19, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 SunnyD Ford, 395, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 32, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 DUDE Wipes Ford, 308, , , , , , 3, Accident
35) 35, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 Toyota, 239, , , , , , 0, Suspension
36) 33, Gray Gaulding(i), No. 51 Jacob Companies Ford, 142, , , , , , 0, Engine
37) 6, Aric Almirola, No. 10 SHAZAM!/Smithfield Ford, 3, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 2 hr, 56 min, 38 sec
Total Race Length: 500 laps - 266.5 miles
Average Speed: 90.527 mph
Margin of Victory: .722 sec
0.533 - mile concrete

Stage 1 Top 10: 13, 14, 2, 22, 48, 18, 12, 21, 19, 9
Stage 2 Top 10: 22, 12, 6, 2, 18, 1, 37, 14, 3, 41

Race Comments: Kyle Busch won the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, his 54th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: #47 (backup car) and #4 (multiple inspection failures).

Caution Flags: 11 for 77 laps; Laps: 3-7 (#10, 17, 18, 24, 47 Incident on the backstretch [None]); 39-45 (#9, 32, 47 Incident on the frontstretch [00]); 119-123 (#8 and 15 Incident in Turn 1 [3]); 127-135 (Stage 1 Conclusion [24]); 214-219 (#9 and 36 Incident on the frontstretch [9]); 252-261 (Stage 2 Conclusion [20]); 271-276 (#19 and 43 Incident on the frontstretch [38]); 376-382 (Debris in Turn 2 [24]); 416-422 (#42 Spin in Turn 2 [41]); 433-439 (#14 Incident in Turn 2 [42]); 479-486 (#42 Incident in Turn 3 [4]).

Lead Changes: 21 among 9 drivers; C. Elliott 1-38; C. Bowyer 39-40; R. Blaney 41; D. Hamlin 42-48; E. Jones 49-58; R. Blaney 59-117; C. Bowyer 118-123; T. Dillon 124-129; B. Keselowski 130-144; J. Logano 145-255; R. Blaney 256-353; J. Logano 354-374; C. Bowyer 375-377; J. Logano 378; C. Bowyer 379-383; K. Busch 384-408; C. Bowyer 409-416; J. Logano 417; K. Busch 418-444; B. Keselowski 445-469; J. Logano 470-481; K. Busch 482-500.