Kyle Busch Takes Sweet Revenge, Wins Food City 500

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch was surely the most determined driver to start Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. After leading for more than 80% of last year's race, he only got to cross the finish line in 2nd place. And Busch is not the kind of guy to let that slip his mind very easily.

Starting the Bristol race on a mission, Busch went on to lead the pack for an overall 378 laps and got to the chequered flag in 1st place, scoring his 2nd win of the season. The race at the 0.533-mile track oval lasted for an additional 3 laps (503 overall) because of the 9 cautions of the day. And there was really no story to it, as Busch seemed in control of the situation from beginning to end.

“It was just an overall great day. This place probably owes me a few, but you can never ask the race track to pay you back. You've just got to go out there and keep working at it. Fortunately, we had a good enough car today,” said the Joe Gibbs Racing driver after the race.

The only action took place behind Busch, as Jimmie Johnson seemed to be the only guy to challenge the JGR for the win. However, due to some poor pit time on the 7th caution of the day (Kevin Harvick's accident), the Hendrick Motorsports driver was relegated to 5th place and would eventually finish the race in 3rd place, just behind Busch's JGR teammate Danny Hamlin.

“We had a problem, I think, getting the left rear [tire] on. I'm not sure – I haven't talked to [crew chief] Chad [Knaus] about it, but it didn't sound to me like the jack went up high enough to get the left rear tire on,” argued Johnson.

Hamlin started the race rather shy, but got to speed after the first 100 laps and started battling with the big guys for the remainder of the Sunday action. However, he could only manage 2nd place, as he admitted Busch's car was unmatched on short runs.

“When we had that caution with about 50 or 60 laps to go, I knew it was going to be tough – unless we got off pit road first – to have anything for those guys. His car [Busch's] just takes off so well,” said Hamlin.

Championship leader Jeff Gordon was arguably the second winner of the day, as he extended his lead in the point standings to 76 points. Busch's win on Sunday took him to 2nd overall, while Johnson finally made his entrance into the Top 10 all the way into 9th place.