Kyle Busch continued his hot streak at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 500 on Sunday. Busch captured his eighth win at the track and his 54th career Monster Energy Cup Series win.
Although Busch won the race, he did not dominate the race. Busch was spun out by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the second lap of the race. A late caution flag with 22 laps remaining and the right decision by the crew to stay out, gave him the lead for his third victory of the season and the eighth top-10 finish in 2019.
“It’s pretty awesome to be able to snooker those guys, get our win today here at Bristol,” Busch said. “I love this place.
“It was fun to battle (with) the brother there at the end. I know we didn’t quite get the side-by-side racing it out; I saw him looking at the top. I’m like, ‘I better go.’ I got up there, was able to make some ground.”
This win also continues Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and Team Penske drivers dominating this season. Busch and teammate Denny Hamlin have combined to win five races for JGR while Keselowski and teammate Logano have won the other three.
Busch held off brother Kurt Busch in the final laps. Older brother
“I really wanted to beat him. I was going to wreck him. I wanted to stay close enough so that when we took the white I was going to just drive straight into [turn 3 and 4]. He’s already won, I figured he could give a little love to his brother,” Kurt Busch said.
Kyle Busch leads the series point standings by 27 points over Hamlin.
Joey Logano finished third, Ryan Blaney fourth and Hamlin finished fifth.
Blaney led three times for 158 laps (the most laps) and captured his fourth top-five finish in the last five races.
“I need to get better as the track rubbers out. Joey (Logano) is really good at it. I thought he had the best car. The track rubbers in and I just need to do something different there,” Blaney said.
Brad Keselowski finished 18th after being black flagged for not being in the right starting position when the race restarted with 14 laps to go. Keselowski was running second behind teammate Logano when the final caution came out on lap 479. NASCAR officials ruled that Keselowski lined up incorrectly and issued a pass-thru penalty.
“Nobody could figure out the lineup. There wasn’t enough communication and it was just a tough deal.” Keselowski said.
Monster Energy Cup Series Race Number 8
Race Results for the 59th Annual Food City 500 – Sunday, April 7, 2019
Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, TN – 0.533 – Mile Concrete
Total Race Length – 500 Laps – 266.5 Miles
| Fin | Str | No | Driver | Team | Laps | S1Pos | S2Pos | Pts | Status |
| 1 | 17 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Skittles Toyota | 500 | 6 | 5 | 51 | Running |
| 2 | 27 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Monster Energy Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | 6 | 40 | Running |
| 3 | 7 | 22 | Joey Logano | Autotrader Ford | 500 | 4 | 1 | 51 | Running |
| 4 | 3 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | PPG Ford | 500 | 7 | 2 | 46 | Running |
| 5 | 5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Freight Toyota | 500 | 0 | 0 | 32 | Running |
| 6 | 9 | 21 | Paul Menard | Menards/Sylvania Ford | 500 | 8 | 0 | 34 | Running |
| 7 | 8 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Haas Automation Ford | 500 | 2 | 8 | 42 | Running |
| 8 | 20 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Haas Automation Ford | 500 | 0 | 10 | 30 | Running |
| 9 | 11 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Wyndham Rewards Ford | 500 | 0 | 3 | 36 | Running |
| 10 | 10 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Ally Chevrolet | 500 | 5 | 0 | 33 | Running |
| 11 | 1 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 500 | 10 | 0 | 27 | Running |
| 12 | 21 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | LFR Pro League Toyota | 500 | 0 | 0 | 25 | Running |
| 13 | 13 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford | 500 | 0 | 0 | 24 | Running |
| 14 | 15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Symbicort Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | 9 | 25 | Running |
| 15 | 24 | 13 | Ty Dillon | GEICO Chevrolet | 500 | 1 | 0 | 32 | Running |
| 16 | 2 | 24 | William Byron | Axalta Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | 0 | 21 | Running |
| 17 | 23 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Auto Owners Insurance Toyota | 499 | 9 | 0 | 22 | Running |
| 18 | 12 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Discount Tire Ford | 499 | 3 | 4 | 34 | Running |
| 19 | 16 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Credit One Bank Chevrolet | 499 | 0 | 0 | 18 | Running |
| 20 | 28 | 43 | Bubba Wallace | Blue-Emu Chevrolet | 499 | 0 | 0 | 17 | Running |
| 21 | 22 | 38 | David Ragan | MDS Transport Ford | 498 | 0 | 0 | 16 | Running |
| 22 | 25 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Bush’s Beans Chevrolet | 498 | 0 | 7 | 19 | Running |
| 23 | 14 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Nationwide Chevrolet | 497 | 0 | 0 | 14 | Running |
| 24 | 4 | 20 | Erik Jones | CRAFTSMAN Racing for a Miracle Toyota | 497 | 0 | 0 | 13 | Running |
| 25 | 30 | 47 | Ryan Preece # | Kroger Chevrolet | 496 | 0 | 0 | 12 | Running |
| 26 | 31 | 0 | Landon Cassill | StarCom Fiber Chevrolet | 495 | 0 | 0 | 11 | Running |
| 27 | 29 | 36 | Matt Tifft # | Surface Sunscreen/Tunity Ford | 494 | 0 | 0 | 10 | Running |
| 28 | 18 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love’s Travel Stops Ford | 493 | 0 | 0 | 9 | Running |
| 29 | 37 | 15 | Ross Chastain(i) | Rim Riderz Chevrolet | 491 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
| 30 | 26 | 8 | Daniel Hemric # | Caterpillar/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet | 490 | 0 | 0 | 7 | Running |
| 31 | 34 | 52 | Bayley Currey # | Belmont Classic Cars Chevrolet | 488 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
| 32 | 36 | 77 | Quin Houff | FALCI Adaptve Motorsports Chevrolet | 476 | 0 | 0 | 5 | Running |
| 33 | 19 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | SunnyD Ford | 395 | 0 | 0 | 4 | Running |
| 34 | 32 | 32 | Corey LaJoie | DUDE Wipes Ford | 308 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Accident |
| 35 | 35 | 66 | * Timmy Hill(i) | Toyota | 239 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Suspension |
| 36 | 33 | 51 | Gray Gaulding(i) | Jacob Companies Ford | 142 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Engine |
| 37 | 6 | 10 | Aric Almirola | SHAZAM!/Smithfield Ford | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Accident |
