When the field took the white flag, everybody knew that it’d be a finish for the ages. After all, it was Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano battling side-by-side for the win. The pair had a run-in the previous week at Bristol Motor Speedway that included some words after the race.

While the pair fought side-by-side through turns three and four, Kyle Busch would make it three-wide, sneaking past them both to take the victory.

“They forgot about me,” Busch commented in victory lane. “I knew they were going, but I thought the spotter would tell them the 18 was coming and to stop messing around. It’s so fun to come out here and perform like this. It’s been three years in the making.”

It marks Busch’s 25th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career victory, his first of 2013. It also marks his second victory at Auto Club Speedway, but the first for Joe Gibbs Racing.

“When they both went to the bottom side of three and four, I thought this was golden and knew I had enough room on the outside,” Busch continued. “I just put my peddle down and went for it.”

Meanwhile, behind Busch, Hamlin and Logano would make contact causing Logano to bounce off the wall while Hamlin would go sliding down the track hard into the inside wall. Hamlin has been transported to the hospital as a result of back pains, as reported on SPEED. Logano would finish third, while Hamlin finished 25th.

“We worked it last week,” Logano said. “He probably shouldn’t have done what he did last week, so that’s what he gets.”

Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr. would sneak through the wreck to finish second and take over the points lead. He would make a late charge through the field from 24th to second in eight laps after struggling with the handling late in the race. It marks his fifth straight top 10 finish this year and his sixth top 10 at Auto Club Speedway in 21 starts.

“Well, I got one of the best strategists on the box, and I got an outside row restart which was crucial to progression,” he said. “We made the most of it. The car was a top-5 car most of the day. We got off sequence, but it sorted out and we hammered it home there late.”

Earnhardt Jr. now has the points lead, 12 points ahead of Keselowski.

Carl Edwards would finish fourth, followed by Kurt Busch. Greg Biffle would finish sixth, followed by Matt Kenseth, Paul Menard, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman.

Meanwhile, Stewart who finished 22nd, was not happy with Logano after the race. He confronted Logano after pit road, displaying his displeasure about the final restart. Logano pulled down to block Stewart, in which Stewart did not agree Logano doing.

“Joey spun the tires on the restart – everybody had the trouble with that,” Stewart said. “It’s not my fault. For him to complain about how everybody else is driving and then do that, it’s a double standard. He made the choice. He made the choice to drive us down there and you take the consequences there. He’s all tough once he gets one of his crew guys around him but till then, he’s a little scared kid. I’m going to get him. He’s going to run his mouth on twitter, and I’m going to have people watching for that. He’s nothing but a spoiled rich kid and it’s time he’s taught a lesson. He’s gonna learn from us working guys who had to come up working to get where we are. He’s talked the talk, but he hasn’t walked the walk. If he ever turns down across in front of me again, I don’t care what lap it is, he won’t make it to the other end of it. After he threw a water bottle at me like a little girl, we’ll go at it now.”

“The 18 spun his tires and I was trying to peddle it cause you can’t pass the leader before the line,” Logano said. “I understand he is upset about that. if it was any earlier in the race, it would be dumb to do. With it being the end of the race, I had to run him down there to protect the position to win the race. ”

The 400-mile event saw seven cautions with the first coming out on lap 29 for David Stremme spinning. Timmy Hill would blow up on lap 37 for the second caution, with debris bringing out the third caution on lap 91.

The fourth caution would come out with 84 to go when Joe Nemechek would get into the wall with a flat tire. With 70 to go, Ambrose was slow on the track to bring out the fifth caution.

With 25 to go, Mark Martin would go spinning on the backstraightaway after contact with David Gilliland for the sixth caution. The last caution came out with 15 laps to go for Clint Bowyer blowing up.

While Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano refused to let each other win, it’d be Kyle Busch sneaking by them both to score the victory in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.

Hamlin elected the outside line as the pole sitter.

Lap 1 – Hamlin and Kenseth side-by-side into turns one and two……Kenseth takes the lead off of turn four.

Lap 2 Kenseth leads Hamlin and Ky Busch. An all Joe Gibbs top three.

Lap 3 Kenseth leads Hamlin Ky Busch Logano Truex…..Ky Busch takes second off of turn turn two.

Lap 5 Kenseth leads Ky Busch Hamlin Logano Truex Ku Busch Montoya Harvick Bowyer McMurray

Lap 7 Logano passes Hamlin for third

Lap 8 Bowyer passes Harvick

Lap 12 Ky Busch passes Kenseth for the lead; Hamlin passes Logano for third

Lap 16 Ky Busch leads Kenseth Hamlin Logano Ku Busch Bowyer Truex Harvick McMurray Martin

Lap 17 Harvick passes Truex…..Martin and Johnson pass McMurray

Lap 18 Bowyer passes Logano

Lap 19 Harvick passes Logano

Lap 20 Ky Busch leads Kenseth Hamlin Bowyer Harvick Ku Busch Logano Truex Martin Johnson

Lap 25 Hamlin passes Kenseth for second.

Lap 27 Harvick passes Bowyer for fourth

Caution lap 29 David Stremme spun. Leaders head down pit road.

Restart lap 34 Kurt Busch makes it four wide, going down to the apron as Harvick didn’t get the best restart……Ky Busch leads Hamlin and Harvick

Lap 36 Ky Busch leads Hamlin Harvick Bowyer Ku Busch Logano Kenseth McMurray Keselowski Martin

Caution lap 37 Timmy Hill blows up. Some stay out while others pit. Martin, Kahne, Bowyer and Ku Busch both pitted after getting into the wall when Hill blew up.

Restart lap 43 Ky Busch and Logano side-by-side through the turns.

Lap 44 Logano clears Ky Busch for the lead.

Lap 45 Logano leads Ky Busch Hamlin Harvick Kenseth McMurray Stenhouse Truex Stewart Johnson

Lap 46 Johnson passes Stewart for ninth….Stewart passes Johnson back

Lap 47 Stewart passes both Truex and Stenhouse; Truex passes Stenhouse

Lap 48 Ky Busch and Hamlin battle for second

Lap 49 Logano leads Ky Busch Hamlin Harvick Kenseth McMurray Stewart Truex Stenhouse Earnhardt Jr…..Kenseth passes Harvick for fourth

Lap 50 Earnhardt Jr. passes Stenhouse for ninth

Lap 51 Logano leads Ky Busch Hamlin Kenseth Harvick McMurray Stewart Truex Earnhardt Jr. and Stenhouse

Lap 57 Logano leads Ky Busch Harvick Kenseth Stewart Hamlin McMurray Earnhardt Truex and Edwards

Lap 59 Stewart passes Kenseth for fourth

Lap 63 Logano leads Ky Busch Harvick Stewart Kenseth Hamlin McMurray Earnhardt Truex and Edwards

Lap 68 Earnhardt Jr. pits along with Ambrose and Almirola while Logano leads Ky Busch and Harvick. Race leader Logano, Martin, Biffle, Keselowski and McMurray pit to hand the lead over to Kyle Busch.

Lap 69 Kyle Busch, Johnson and Hamlin pits, handing the lead over to Harvick.

Lap 70 Harvick pits, to hand the lead over to Stewart. Harvick gets a speeding penalty.

Lap 75 Kurt Busch has a penalty. Ryan Newman just pitted. Tony Stewart heads for pit road, handing the lead over to Kyle Busch

Lap 81 Ky Busch leads Logano Hamlin Earnhardt Jr Kenseth Stewart Truex Kahne McMuray Bowyer

Lap 83 Ky Busch and Logano battle for the lead. Ky Busch able to hold it for now.

Lap 91 Caution for debris. Leaders hit pit road. Hamlin beats Kyle Busch off pit road. Keselowski penalized for being too fast.

Restart lap 96. Kyle Busch and Hamlin side-by-side for the lead. Kyle Busch clears Hamlin off of turn four.

Lap 97 Ky Busch leads Hamlin Logano Earnardt Kensetg Stewart Kahne Edwards Bowyer Truex

Lap 104 Logano passes Hamlin for second

Lap 105 Earnhardt Jr. passes Hamlin for third…..Ky Busch leads Logano Earnhardt Jr. Hamlin. Menard down pit road with a flat tire.

88 to go Ky Busch leads Logano Earnhardt Jr Hamlin Stewart Bowyer Harvick Kahne Bifle Truex….Kenseth heads down pit road

85 to go Harvick passes Bowyer

Caution 84 to go Joe Nemechek got into the wall with a flat tire. Leaders hit pit road. Kyle Busch leads Hamlin Logano Stewart Harvick Edwards Bowyer off pit road. Earnhardt Jr.’s pit crew with troubles on rear.

Restart 79 to go. Logano grabs the lead off of turn two ahead of Ky Busch.

77 to go Logano leads Ky Busch Hamlin Harvick Stewart Newman Logano Biffle Stenhouse Bowyer.

74 to go Logano leads Ky Busch Harvick Biffle Hamlin Stewart Newman Edwards Bowyer Earnhardt

72 to go Bowyer passes Edwards for eighth; Stewart passes Hamlin

Caution 70 to go Ambrose slow on the track. Leaders head down pit road. Stewart leads Bowyer Keselowski Kenseth Logano Harvick Biffle Hamlin Edwards Busch. Top four took two tires. Kyle Busch reported battery 1 is dead. Running on other battery.

Restart 64 to go Bowyer and Stewart side-by-side for the lead……Stewart pulls ahead out of turn two.

63 to go Stewart leads Bowyer Harvick Ky Busch Kenseth Keselowski Hamlin Logano Biffle Kahne

61 to go Ky Busch and Harvick side-by-side for second after both got by Bowyer

60 to go Stewart leads Harvick Ky Busch Logano Bowyer Keselowski Hamlin Kenseth Newman Biffle

59 to go Ky Busch passes Harvick for second

56 to go Ky Busch passes Stewart for the lead while Harvick grabs second

53 to go Ky Busch leads Harvick Logano Stewart Keselowski Hamlin Bowyer Newman Kahne Kenseth. Montoya to the garage with shifter issues.

47 to go Kahne passed Bowyer and Newman. Hamlin passes Keselowski.

40 to go Ky Busch leads Harvick Logano Hamlin Stewart

39 to go Bobby Labonte, Truex, McMurray, Martin and Earnhardt Jr. hit pit road.

38 to go Patrick, Kenseth, Burton and Bowyer pit

37 to go Martin gets penalized for speeding. Keselowski, Reuitmann, Gordon, Almmendinger, Menard, Stremme, Stenhouse, Ambrose, Ku Busch, Almirola and Kahne pit

36 to go Stewart and Nemechek pit.

35 to go Logano and Blaney pit.

34 to go Newman and Hamlin pit…….Busch pits from the lead, followed by Harvick.

33 to go Johnson pits. Pit cycle complete. Ky Busch to the lead.

Lap 169 Caution for debris from Ambrose. Huge bumper cover on track. Ambrose has a tire go down on the left rear. Half of the drivers on the lead lap pitted. Stewart leads Earnhardt and Gordon off pit road. They took two tires. Kyle Busch stayed out with some others.

Restart 26 to go Ky Busch gets the jump as Harvick doesn’t go on the bottom.

Caution 25 to go Mark Martin goes spinning on the backstrightaway after bouncing off the wall and then directly into Gilliland. Leaders stay out, while some of the drivers in the back pitted. Hamlin has to come back to pit road – missing lugnuts.

Restart 20 to go….three-wide for the lead……Ky Busch leads off of turn two ahead of Logano and Stewart.

19 to go Ky Busch leads Logano Stewart Kahne Biffle…..Ku Busch passes both Kahne and Biffle off of turn four….side-by-side with Ku Busch at the line

17 to go Ky Busch leads Logano Stewart Ku Busch Keselowski

Caution 15 to go Clint Bowyer blown up. Top six stayed out while rest of the lead lap cars pitted. Newman got a speeding penalty

Restart 11 to go land rush into turn one as they’re three, four wide as Logano is inside of Ky Busch for the lead.

10 to go Kyle Busch leads as Edwards, Logano and Smith are thre-wide for second. Logano and Kurt Busch stay side-by-side off of turn four.

9 to go Ky Busch leads as Logano makes it out of the nest

8 to go Logano has chased Ky Busch down.

7 to go Logano and Ky Busch side-by-side for the lead off turn two…..Logano falls back behind Ky Busch……Hamlin to the inside of Logano, Logano got into Hamlin

6 to go Logano to the lead in a three wide battle with Hamlin and Ky Busch

5 to go Logano ahead of Hamlin Ky Busch Edwards Earnhardt Jr

4 to go Edwards passes Ky Busch…..Ky Busch with the cross-over. Ky Busch keeps third…..Earnhardt Jr passes Edwards off of turn four

Final lap. Hamlin to the outside of Logano. They bump off of turn two. They were bumping through turns three and four, Ky Busch sneaks past. Hamlin puts Logano into the wall off of four, Hamlin spins and into the inside wall hard.

Kyle Busch wins. Earnhardt Jr. finishes second.