News / Sports
Kyle Busch Wins at Talladega
Unlike his past experiences, this time the crash happened behind Kyle Busch, who drove into Victory Lane instead of leaving Talladega Superspeedway with a demolished car. He fell a lap behind halfway through the race, managing to avoid a crash with Jamie McMurray. This was his 2nd Sprint Cup race of the year, finishing just ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya in the Aaron's 499. Montoya finished 2nd, moving into the top 12 in series points. Hamlin finished 3rd.
The Sprint Cup series race was won under caution when a multi-car accident brought out the yellow flag on the final lap. Among those knocked out of the race were Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Jamie McMurray. The crash froze the field, allowing Busch to slowly make his way across the finish line.
"I'd like to say that I'm smarter than I look but that's certainly not the case," Busch said. "Today was just due to having a great car. Getting a lap down, that was like, 'Oh, typical Talladega' there. But I didn't wreck today and I was definitely happy of that and I was greatly appreciative that I was able to win today because it's certainly been a struggle for several years."
With 15 laps remaining, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart were among those caught in the crash. Busch had the lead ahead of Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya when the racing resumed with 5 laps left. A spin by Bobby Labonte brought out the race's 7th caution.
In 6 previous Cup races, Busch failed to finish 4 times and crashed both events last year. This victory is his 2nd Sprint Cup win, the 7th spanning all 3 of NASCAR's top series. It also gives him 4 consecutive wins. Busch was one of the fastest cars for most of the race. He used a "Lucky Dog" pass to get back on the lead lap with about 60 laps remaining. From there he powered towards the leader.
At lap 61 the drivers began to head for pit road a couple at a time for fuel and tires. The next lap almost half the field made the slow left turn into the pits. The rest of the drivers came in on lap 63 and 64 so no one got caught in a caution flag situation, except for Busch. He missed his pit stall and had to go all the way around which cost him almost a full lap to the leaders.
This victory pushed Busch to within 13 points of championship leader Jeff Burton. The next race in the series is set for May 3rd at the Richmond International Raceway.
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