As the NASCAR summer season winds down into its’ playoffs Kyle Busch may be the best contender to end Jimmie Johnson’s five-year stranglehold on the Sprint Cup.
The 26 year-old easily held off Johnson on a green-white-checkered finish to win for the fourth time this year and take his first victory at the two-mile Michigan International Speedway.
“It’s awesome -- that's what we wanted. We wanted to make sure that we could come out here and win races and have the opportunity to go out for broke,” Busch said.
That win at Michigan resonated mightily for Busch who said “we've been trying so hard the last few times here. Our teammate's (Denny Hamlin who won the spring race) been able to do it, but unfortunately we haven't,” he added.
With the victory at Michigan, his 23rd at the Cup level, he’s locked into the Chase leading the points and has the most wins.
Brad Keselowski, still recuperating from a broken ankle, scored his third-straight top-three finish in third. With his two wins he’s the leading wild card contender for the Chase.
“To be a championship contender, we need to make that next step. We've made a step forward, kind of the specifics of which I'd probably rather not go into details of. I think that you can see it with our team, obviously,” said Keselowski.
Pole-sitter Greg Biffle led for 86 of the first 100 laps, but had handling problems. Busch passed him around the midway point of the scheduled 200-lap, 400-mile race. Jeff Gordon led after that before Johnson’s lucky-timed pit stop just prior to a caution that started on lap 169.
Johnson took the lead on lap 170, but, Busch easily overtook him on lap 188.
After older brother Kurt Busch hit the wall, on lap 197, there was another caution setting up the final restart. But Johnson had nothing for the younger Busch brother.
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| Start of the race (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR) |
The 26 year-old easily held off Johnson on a green-white-checkered finish to win for the fourth time this year and take his first victory at the two-mile Michigan International Speedway.
“It’s awesome -- that's what we wanted. We wanted to make sure that we could come out here and win races and have the opportunity to go out for broke,” Busch said.
That win at Michigan resonated mightily for Busch who said “we've been trying so hard the last few times here. Our teammate's (Denny Hamlin who won the spring race) been able to do it, but unfortunately we haven't,” he added.
With the victory at Michigan, his 23rd at the Cup level, he’s locked into the Chase leading the points and has the most wins.
Brad Keselowski, still recuperating from a broken ankle, scored his third-straight top-three finish in third. With his two wins he’s the leading wild card contender for the Chase.
“To be a championship contender, we need to make that next step. We've made a step forward, kind of the specifics of which I'd probably rather not go into details of. I think that you can see it with our team, obviously,” said Keselowski.
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| (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR) |
Pole-sitter Greg Biffle led for 86 of the first 100 laps, but had handling problems. Busch passed him around the midway point of the scheduled 200-lap, 400-mile race. Jeff Gordon led after that before Johnson’s lucky-timed pit stop just prior to a caution that started on lap 169.
Johnson took the lead on lap 170, but, Busch easily overtook him on lap 188.
After older brother Kurt Busch hit the wall, on lap 197, there was another caution setting up the final restart. But Johnson had nothing for the younger Busch brother.