The clock strikes two for Kyle Busch at Martinsville Speedway

Kyle Busch celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 3, 2016 in Martinsville, Virginia.
Kyle Busch celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 3, 2016 in Martinsville, Virginia.
Kyle Busch celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 3, 2016 in Martinsville, Virginia.

Kyle Busch had a good weekend. The reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion led a race high 352 laps Sunday at Martinsville Speedway to win the STP 500. The victory came a day after Busch’s win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series on Saturday giving him two of the track’s signature grandfather trophy clocks. Saturday’s win was also his first in his 32nd NASCAR start at NASCAR’s shortest track.

“I’d say it certainly helps when you get to run other divisions and that’s why I do it to pay off on Sundays,” Busch said. “It doesn’t work every single weekend, but it works more times than it doesn’t.”

Busch was in control most of the race and held off a hard charging AJ Allmendinger after a restart with 11 laps to go to win the 35th win of his career and his first of the season. In all Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth were one and two for five restarts Sunday. Each time one car would let the other drop to the bottom and take the lead, but on the final restart Busch restarting on the inside charged ahead and went onto the win. Kenseth meanwhile finished 15th.

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Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. 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.