To say it was wild is an understatement. Kyle Busch won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway Sunday. Here’s how it all went down:
After qualifying earlier in the day, Joey Logano led the field from his second pole of the season, the 19th of his career and his fourth at Martinsville. Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Clint Bowyer made up the rest of the top five.
After a spin in qualifying, Jimmie Johnson was forced to start at the rear of the field. Paul Menard and Austin Dillon also started at the rear for unapproved adjustments after qualifying.
Logano had the lead out of turn 2; Truex slipped up in turn 3 and Blaney took second. Elliott was fourth behind Truex. Bowyer held fifth.
Johnson was up to 27th by lap 14.
Brad Keselowski took fifth on lap 19.
Elliott was looking for third by lap 21. Johnson was up to 22nd.
Keselowski took fourth on lap 24. Logano was starting to lap the field.
Keselowski took third on lap 29.
The first caution of the day came out on lap 35 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ty Dillon in 24th and 25th got together in turn 2 and spun. Both continued.
NASCAR had scheduled a competition caution for lap 45, but called this as the competition caution.
The leaders pitted. Logano was out first followed by Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Blaney and Truex.
Green came out to start lap 45; Logano restarted on the high side and had the lead by turn 1. Keselowski took second, Blaney and Kyle Busch were side by side with Truex lurking just behind. Elliott and Kyle Larson were side by side behind.
Keselowski took the lead on lap 50; Blaney and Busch were still side by side. Blaney finally took third on lap 55 from the outside.
Johnson was 18th by lap 61.
The second caution came out on lap 62 when David Ragan spun in turn 4. He had no damage and continued.
The leaders stayed out; Johnson pitted with several others behind following.
Green came out to start lap 69. Keselowski took the lead, but Logano stayed close; Kyle Busch slipped into third Blaney and Elliott were side by side with Elliott getting the spot a lap later.
Truex and Blaney were then side by side with Blaney on the outside. Blaney had fifth by lap 75.
The battle up front was tight; with Logano all over Keselowski.
Logano used a bump and run on lap 79 and retook the lead.
AJ Allmendinger crashed after contact with Danica Patrick when Menard slowed on lap 88 and caution three came out.
The leaders pitted. Kyle Busch was out first followed by Logano, Keselowski, Elliott and Truex. The top 9 cars stayed out; the top five among them; Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, and Chris Buescher.
The green came out to start lap 94.
Johnson took the lead, Kahne followed with Dillon third. Landon Cassill shot to fourth, Buescher was fifth.
Kyle Busch was up to sixth from ninth by lap 98.
Keselowski had worked his way to third by lap 105. He took second on lap 108. He was soon looking for the lead. He took the top spot back on lap 113 Kyle Busch took third from Kahne behind. Truex and Logano followed; Kahne was seventh by lap 118.
Logano took fourth on lap 122. Kyle Busch was looking for second. He had the spot on lap 124. Logano took third from Johnson on lap 128, two to go in the stage. Elliott was looking for fifth on the final lap on the stage but Truex was able to hold him off. Caution four came out to end the stage.
Top 10 Stage 1: Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Logano, Johnson, Truex, Elliott, Blaney, Kahne, Austin Dillon, and Hamlin.
The leaders pitted. Kyle Busch was out first followed by Keselowski, Logano, Johnson and Elliott. Hamlin was penalized for speeding.
The restart came to start lap 140; Kyle Busch had the lead by the exit of turn 2; Logano and Keselowski were side by side behind; Elliott was just behind them.
Keselowski had second by lap 143, Logano third, Elliott fourth, Truex fifth. Johnson settled into sixth. He fought to hold off Blaney. Ahead Logano and Blaney were dueling for third. Elliott had the spot by lap 154.
Blaney took sixth from Johnson on lap 158.
In heavy lapped traffic Kyle Busch and Keselowski were battling for position on lap 184. Busch was able to defend buy Keselowski stayed close.
By lap 221 Busch was starting to lap the field. There were 17 cars on the lead lap.
Busch was looking to put teammate Hamlin, who was in 14th, a lap down by lap 234. Keselowski was on Busch’s bumper by lap 238.
The focus was on Busch and Keselowski by lap 243.
It was a three-way fight with Busch, Hamlin, and Keselowski with 10 to go in the stage.
Keselowski was able to muscle his way past and took the lead on lap 258; two to go in the stage.
He won the stage as Hamlin held on to stay on the lead lap.
Top 10 Stage 2: Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Logano, Truex, Elliott, Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Bowyer and Johnson. The fifth caution came out to end the stage.
The leaders pitted. Kyle Busch was out first followed by Keselowski, Truex, Logano and Elliott.
Green came out to start lap 272; Busch took a clear lead; Truex was fighting Keselowski for second; Keselowski had the spot by lap 274. Logano was fourth. Elliott fifth.
Elliott took fourth on lap 275. He took third from Truex on lap 280.
By lap 297 the lead was just over a second.
The sixth caution came out on lap 302 when Larson slid coming out of turn 2 hitting the inside wall; he was done for the day.
The leaders pitted; Kyle Busch was out first followed by Keselowski, Logano, Elliott and Truex.
Green came out to start lap 314.
Busch had the lead exiting turn 2; Keselowski fought Logano for second. Elliott hovered just behind.
Logano had second on the next lap, but behind Erik Jones spun after contact with Cole Whitt; caution seven came out.
Green came out to start lap 322; Kyle Busch again took the lead. Elliott fought with Logano for the second spot and had it by the end of the lap.
Elliott was looking for the top spot on lap 325 and soon had the lead. Busch was then fighting with Logano for second. Logano had second by lap 328. Keselowski took third from Busch on lap 329. Truex was fifth, Blaney sixth.
Harvick and Blaney were making contact by lap 335 as Harvick wanted sixth.
Keselowski took second on lap 337.
Harvick moved Blaney aside on lap 348 and took the sixth spot.
Keselowski had caught Elliott by lap 354.
Caution eight came out on lap 360 when Cassill got spun after contact with Ty Dillon, and hitting David Ragan coming out of turn 2. Both were able to continue.
The leaders pitted. Keselowski was out first followed by Kyle Busch, Elliott, Truex and Logano. Harvick had issue on his stop with an air gun and started 16th.
Green came out to start lap 368. Keselowski took the lead Truex slid into second, Busch third, Elliott fourth Bowyer fifth.
Elliott took third on lap 373. He had second by lap 378.
He was looking for the lead by lap 383. Truex was fourth, Bowyer fifth.
Elliott took the lead on lap 387.
The lead was just over a second by lap 420.
Elliott was in heavy lapped traffic by lap 438 and Keselowski was soon catching him.
Elliott made contact with Keselowski on lap 445 and was soon showing smoke from a tire rub.
Kyle Busch was able to catch Keselowski on lap 456 and was looking for second.
Carl Long spun on lap 457 and caution nine came out.
The leaders pitted. Elliott was out first followed by Keselowski, Logano, Kyle Busch and Truex.
Green came out to start lap 365.
Elliott had the lead out of turn 2; Keselowski fell into second; Logano and Busch were side by side.
Keselowski was bumping Elliott each time the two got into the turns. Logano had third by lap 468.
Elliott and Keselowski were bumping and banging side by side by lap 469.
Keselowski had a clear lead by lap 472. Elliott reversed roles and was soon bumping the back of Keselowski.
Keselowski was finally able to move out a bit by lap 479.
The leaders had caught lapped traffic by lap 482.
The lead was nearing a second by lap 284 as Elliott was trying to hold off Logano.
On lap 487, Busch dove under Logano who was trying to get under Elliott. Logano suffered damage and began smoking; Hamlin was soon charging forward and had third. Logano fell back with tire smoke.
Logano spun with 9 laps to go and caution 10 came out. There were 22 cars on the lead lap.
The leaders stayed out; Johnson outside the top 10 was one of the few who came in; he took only two tires. In all, the top 12 cars stayed out.
The restart came with 4 laps to go. Elliott booted Keselowski up the track and took the lead as Hamlin moved to second. Hamlin put a bumper to Elliott entering turn 3, spun him and the caution came out.
The caution set up a green-white-checkered flag finish. Elliott pitted and came out 23rd a lap down.
The top five: Hamlin, Busch, Bowyer, Truex and Blaney.
Hamlin chose the inside line; he had the lead out of turn 3; Busch was second, Truex third.
Hamlin and Busch were side by side on taking the white flag. Entering turn 1 Busch moved Hamlin up the track; Truex took advantage and took second trying to pass Busch as the two came to the line; Busch held him off and won by .141 of a second; behind them a huge crash erupted blocking the track at the finish of the race.
Behind Truex, Bowyer was third, Keselowski fourth and Harvick fifth.
Trevor Bayne was sixth, Hamlin was scored seventh followed by Blaney, Kenseth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Elliott was scored 27th.
Other playoff drivers: Johnson was 12th.
The next stop is next Sunday with the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the green will wave just after 2:00 p.m. ET with live coverage on the NBC Sports Network.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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