HAMPTON, Ga. – In a night of attrition that claimed both of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Kyle Busch was around at the end of the ADVOCARE 500 and took home his second career win at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Busch led the final 36 laps of the event and survived a restart with 21 laps to go with older brother Kurt breathing down his neck. Joey Logano, who led a race high 76 laps, was unable to run down Busch after charging to second. For Busch it’s the fourth win of the season and the 28th of his NSCS career.
“Man, I don’t know where it came from, but these guys never gave up,” said a pleased Busch on the way his car responded late. “They made some really good calls and I commend them. It was their race today. I appreciate them hanging in there with me, although I was pretty graphic sometimes, but that’s what this sport is all about.”
Logano helped his Chase chances by moving to eighth in the standings. With teammate and defending champion Brad Keselowski suffering an engine failure, Logano might be the only Penske entry to make NASCAR’s playoffs. Keselowski finished 35th after leading early laps with a car capable of running in the top 10.
“What can you do? You can sit here and be mad and stomp your feet and be a jerk about it, but it just broke,” said Keselowski. “That’s racing. It’s kind of been the story of our year.”
Keselowski will head to Richmond 15th in points and in need of different scenarios if he’s to make the Chase and defend his championship. He wasn’t the only champion in trouble on Sunday night though, point leader Jimmie Johnson finished four laps down.
Johnson was caught up in a wreck early as all four Hendrick Motorsports cars got a piece when teammate Jeff Gordon spun the tires on a restart and stacked up the outside lane. Johnson ran into the back of Dale Earnhardt Jr. as Kasey Kahne ran into the back of Johnson.
Earnhardt Jr. was left unscathed and finished eighth while Johnson and Kahne both suffered major damage. Johnson remains the point leader over Clint Bowyer, who was the dominant car the first half of the event before blowing an engine, by 28 points. Johnson however, has finished outside the top 25 the past three weeks.
There were nine cautions throughout the 325-lap event with 13 different leaders.
Seven drivers are now locked into the 2013 Chase heading into Richmond: Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, and Kasey Kahne.
