Chaos ensues in closing laps at Martinsville, Kyle Busch takes win

Busch led a race-high 184 laps as the race went into overtime for his fifth win of the season and the 43rd of his Cup career. He held off Martin Truex Jr. by .141-seconds at the line for his second Martinsville win as a multi-car melee erupted behind. 

“It’s huge, it’s our opportunity to succeed,” Busch said. “I just wanted to come out on top today.  Awesome to get to victory lane here at Martinsville. You know I wanted to win Charlotte, Martinsville and Homestead and that’ll make us this year’s champions, so we’ve got one more. Just wanted to say our guys did an awesome job preparing this car. We weren’t the best all day, but we put ourselves in the right spots there at the end and there was kind of chaos ensuing and none of it was our fault, we just came out on the right end of the stick."

Hamlin vs. Elliott

But the fireworks occurred eight laps earlier when Denny Hamlin dumped Chase Elliott for the lead in Turn 4. 

“I just went too deep,” Hamlin explained after Elliott slammed the No. 11 Toyota into the Turn 3 wall on the cool down lap.  

“I got punted from behind and wrecked leading the race,” said Elliott, who led 123 laps before finishing 27th. “He’s not even worth my time and we’re moving onto Texas.”

Clint Bowyer finished third followed by Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Trevor Bayne, Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Once again, Kyle Busch was the first car off of pit road and led the field to green on Lap 272. Keselowski lined up second followed by Truex, Logano, Elliott, Blaney, Kesenth, Harvick, Bowyer, Johnson, Kurt Busch, Hamlin and Austin Dillon. 

Chase Elliott moved to the inside of Logano for fourth on lap 275. After the first 10 laps, Busch held a 1.087-second lead over Keselowski with 13 cars on the lead lap. Elliott ran third followed by Truex, Logano, Blaney, Kenseth, Bowyer, Harvick, Johnson, Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon.

Bowyer passed Kenseth for seventh on Lap 286. Johnson passed Kenseth on Lap 290 and Hamlin followed on the next circuit. Bowyer moved by Blaney for sixth-place on Lap 297. By Lap 300, Busch had led a race-high 158 laps. Keselowski ran second followed by Elliott, Logano, Truex, Bowyer, Blaney, Harvick, Johnson, Hamlin, Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Dillon. 

Kyle Larson was running 23rd when he ran into rookie Kyle Weatherman and went for a spin in the backstretch on Lap 302 to ignite Caution 6. The field completed six laps under yellow as track workers cleaned up debris before pitting on Lap 309. After a mad dash at the exit of pit road, Busch retained the lead followed by Keselowski, Logano, Elliott, Truex, Bowyer, Blaney, Harvick, Johnson, Hamlin, Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Dillon. Sixteen cars took the wave around to restock the lead lap with 24 cars on Lap 314. 

Logano moved up to second on Lap 315 as Erik Jones spun in Turn 4 to bring out the seventh caution. Busch held the lead when the race returned to green on Lap 322. Logano was on the outside followed by Elliott, Keselowski, Truex, Blaney, Bowyer, Harvick, Johnson and Kurt Busch. Elliott moved to the inside of Logano in Turn 2 to take second on Lap 323. He used the same line on Busch out of Turn 4 for the lead on Lap 324. Logano moved up to second on Lap 326. Busch dropped to third but was passed by Keselowski on Lap 329. Truex ran fifth followed by Blaney, Harvick, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Johnson, Kenseth, Hamlin, Dillon, Kahne and Earnhardt.

Harvick looked to the inside of Blaney on Lap 337 as the battle for sixth continued between the two Fords. On Lap 346, Harvick passed Blaney for sixth and Bowyer bumped the No. 21 to eight.   Elliott extended his lead to a half-second over Keselowski. Logano, Busch, Truex, Harvick, Bowyer, Blaney, Hamlin and Kenseth rounded out the top 10. 

Keselowski caught Elliott’s bumper in Turn 2 on Lap 358 as the two drivers encountered traffic.

Elliott held the lead followed by .333-seconds over Keselowski when David Ragan spun in Turn 2 on Lap 360. Logano ran third followed by Kyle Busch, Truex, Harvick, Bowyer, Hamlin, Blaney, Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Suarez, Johnson, Earnhardt and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

Keselowski regained the lead off of pit road followed by Kyle Busch, Elliott, Truex, Logano, Hamlin, Kenseth, Bowyer, Blaney, Suarez, Kurt Busch, Earnhardt, Johnson, Stenhouse and Harvick. 

Keselowski pulled out to a two-car lead over Truex after controlling the restart on lap 367. Busch ran third followed by Elliott, Bowyer, Hamlin, Logano, Kenseth, Earnhardt and Stenhouse. 

Elliott passed Truex for second in Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 376. Kyle Busch ran fourth followed by Bowyer, Logano, Hamlin, Kenseth, Suarez and Earnhardt.

Elliott nudged Keselowski in Turn 2 and moved to the inside on the backstretch for the lead on Lap 386. Kyle Busch ran third followed by Truex, Bowyer, Logano, Hamlin, Kenseth, Suarez and Blaney. 

With 100 laps remaining, Elliott, Keselowski and Kyle Busch were all within a car length of each other. Truex ran fourth — more than a half-second behind Busch. Bowyer, Logano, Hamlin, Kenseth, Suarez and Blaney completed the top 10. Harvick ran 11th, Johnson was 18th after major adjustments during the pit stop to free up the car. 

Elliott extended his lead over the next 10 laps to .984-seconds over Keselowski. After gaining a one-second lead, Elliott hit traffic on lap 415. Busch closed in on Keselowski. Logano moved back to fifth on Lap 418. Elliott’s lead was 1.204-seconds over Keselowski with 70 laps to go. Busch held onto third and Logano passed Truex for fourth two laps later. Bowyer ran fifth followed by Hamlin, Kenseth, Suarez and Blaney. 

Keselowski caught Elliott on Lap 441. He gave him the bumper on Lap 444 on the backstretch and the No. 24 developed a left rear tire rub. Elliott lapped Kahne on Lap 450 and put Johnson one lap down on the next lap. With Elliott’s teammates blocking Keselowski, Busch is able to pass the No. 2 Ford for second-place with Logano closing in behind.

Carl Long spun in Turn 4 on lap 456 to bring out the ninth caution. Johnson was the lucky dog. 

Elliott led the drivers to pit road on Lap 459 followed by Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Logano, Bowyer, Truex, Hamlin, Kenseth, Suarez, Blaney, Stenhouse, Bayne Harvick Earnhardt, Dillon, Kurt Busch and Johnson. He retained the lead out of the pits followed by Keselowski, Logano, Kyle Busch, Truex, Bowyer, Hamlin, Kenseth, Blaney, Bayne, Harvick, Suarez, Stenhouse, Earnhardt, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon and Johnson. 

Elliott controlled the restart with 34 laps to go, but Keselowski quickly pulled in behind and applied pressure to the No. 24 Chevy. Keselowski moved to the inside on the backstretch on Lap 470 and grab the lead out of Turn 2. Elliott returned the favor and bumped Keselowski in Turn 2 with 26 laps remaining. 

With 25 to go, Keselowski had a one-car lead over Elliott. Logano, Kyle Busch, Truex, Hamlin, Blaney, Bowyer, Kenseth and Harvick rounded out the top 10. Hamlin passed Truex for fifth on Lap 481. Logano caught Elliott with 15 to go but could not make the pass. 

Kyle Busch attempted to pass Logano on Lap 487 in Turn 2 and knocked the fender into the tire on the No. 22 Ford. Hamlin capitalized on the contact and moved to third. Busch remained fourth, Truex fifth and Logano dropped to sixth when he spun in Turn 2 with nine laps to go. 

Keselowski’s lead was 1.7-seconds over Elliott when the 10th caution came out. Hamlin ran third followed by Kyle Busch, Truex, Blaney, Bowyer, Kenseth, Harvick and Stenhouse. Johnson, Kurt Busch, Earnhardt, Stenhouse, Bayne, Suarez, Almirola, Menard and Austin Dillon pitted on Lap 494— as did Logano, who came in for multiple repairs. 

The race returned to green with four laps to go. Elliott pushed Keselowski out of the lead coming through Turn 4 and Hamlin dumped Elliott in the same spot on the next lap to bring out the 11th caution. 

“Did what happen is what I think happened or am I skewed,” asked Elliott. 

Hamlin held the point followed by Kyle Busch, Bowyer, Truex, Blaney, Keselowski, Kenseth, Stenhouse, Harvick and Johnson as the race went into overtime. Elliott dropped to 23rd, the laps car on the lead lap. 

Hamlin shot out to the lead with Busch on the inside. Busch nudged Hamlin out of the lead in Turn 2 and collected the checkered flag two turns later. 

“I wanted to be on Denny’s outside and push him out of the way,” Busch said. “We were drag racing into Turn 1 and I wheel-hopped going in. This Toyota was fast all day but we couldn’t touch the gas off of the corners.”

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	505		182
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	505	0.141
3	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	505	0.379
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	505	0.991	103
5	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	505	1.540
6	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	505	1.700
7	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	505	1.905	6
8	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	505	1.911
9	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	505	1.920
10	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	505	1.981
11	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	505	2.228
12	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	505	2.229	23
13	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	505	2.445
14	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	505	2.548
15	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	505	2.598
16	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	505	2.817
17	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	505	2.987
18	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	505	3.064
19	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	505	3.265
20	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	505	3.293
21	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	505	3.565
22	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	505	5.479
23	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	505	5.512
24	22	Joey Logano	Ford	504	1 lap	57
25	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	504	1 lap
26	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	504	1 lap
27	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	504	1 lap	120
28	38	David Ragan	Ford	503	2 laps
29	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	503	2 laps
30	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	501	4 laps
31	83	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	501	4 laps
32	15	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	500	5 laps
33	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	500	5 laps
34	7	Hermie Sadler	Chevrolet	494	11 laps
35	51	Kyle Weatherman	Chevrolet	488	17 laps
36	66	Carl Long	Chevrolet	444	61 laps
37	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	300	205 laps
38	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	274	231 laps
39	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	187	318 laps
40	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	94	411 laps