Kurt vs Kyle Round 4: Kurt Busch Wins at Atlanta

The NASCAR Cup Series heads back to Georgia in the July summer heat for the Quaker State 400 presented by Wal-Mart at Atlanta Motor Speedway. NASCAR makes a second trip to Atlanta for the first time since 2010. Going into the race, the biggest story heading in is that the track will undergo a long-awaited repave and reprofiling after the race weekend. The racing surface is currently the oldest in NASCAR and the track will see a more narrow width as well as an increase in banking in the turns. There will be 260 laps with the stages being 80-80-100 with a competition caution on lap 25. Ryan Blaney won at Atlanta earlier this season after a late-race pass on Kyle Larson. Martin Truex Jr had to go to the rear after failing pre-race tech twice.

Chase Elliott, the hometown kid, led the field to the green flag at Atlanta with Kyle Busch starting next to him. Elliott quickly took off at the start as Kyle Busch jumped into second and Denny Hamlin to third. On lap 12, Kyle Busch challenged Chase Elliott for the lead as they stayed close to him. Both have begun to pull away from everyone else. Then on lap 14, Busch gets by Elliott for the lead. Denny Hamlin would get by Elliott for second before the competition caution on lap 25. The race resumed on lap 30, Chase Elliott lost some spots on pit road while Denny Hamlin took the lead. Coming back around, Kyle Busch got to this teammate and battled for the lead. Then Cody Ware got loose and spun causing a chain reaction of Daniel Suarez and Ricky Stenhouse Jr to go spinning. Suarez and Stenhouse get heavy damage as they both are chasing a playoff spot.

Kyle Busch will restart in the lead on the inside line with Denny Hamlin to his outside in second. Busch definitely had the better restart as Matt DiBenedetto was stuck in the middle and falling back. Kurt Busch flew through the field as he made his way all the way to second. Alex Bowman got his way up to third as well. As many drivers fought to keep their tires intact on the 24-year old surface, Kyle Busch went on to win Stage one at Atlanta.

Stage 1 Results:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Kurt Busch
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Alex Bowman
5. Tyler Reddick
6. Joey Logano
7. Kyle Larson
8. William Byron
9. Martin Truex Jr
10. Kevin Harvick

Pit stops took place during the stage break and this time it was big brother Busch, Kurt Busch, getting off pit road first, followed by his brother Kyle. Kurt Busch led the field back to the green on lap 87 as Kevin Harvick went down pit road before the restart after contact on pit road. Kurt Busch jumped out in front with Kyle settling into second and Tyler Reddick in third. On lap 90, Tyler Reddick moved up to second as he is chasing his first career cup win and a playoff birth. Crews began to look at the weather radar for potential rain as the clouds began to look more ominous. Joey Logano made a pit stop around lap 27 of stage two, due to issues with the left rear tire. Leaders made green-flag pit stops around lap 120, including Kurt Busch on lap 122. Aric Almirola was leading at lap 127 and he stayed out as long as he could, as the rain began drizzling on the track. Pop-up showers were all around the track as Almirola fought hard to hang on, as he came into this race 27^th in points. Ryan Preece took the lead on lap 132 but Kurt Busch then took the lead and drove off with the lead, ending hopes for Preece and Almirola. The rain wasn’t coming down enough to stop the race, so the race continued. This time it was big brother’s turn as Kurt Busch would go on to win stage two.

Stage 2 Results:

1. Kurt Busch
2. Kyle Busch
3. Alex Bowman
4. Kyle Larson
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Tyler Reddick
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Brad Keselowski
9. Austin Dillon
10. Martin Truex Jr

Denny Hamlin was busted for a speeding penalty on pit road during the stage break, a part of the track was coming apart on the front stretch. As NASCAR assessed it, the red flag came out for track officials to repair the patch, a big reason why the track will be repaved after this race weekend. After about 20 minutes, the yellow flag was back out. The race resumed with 90 laps to go as Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman led the field. Kyle Busch made a move to put himself in the picture as he moved up to third. Busch took second away from Bowman with 88 laps to go. Green flag pit stops took place with 50 laps to go as Kyle Busch would edge out his brother Kurt in terms of pit stops. Kyle Larson was smacked with a speeding penalty, which put him out of contention. With 25 laps to go, the Busch brothers were door to door for the lead, almost shadowing the finish of the 2019 Kentucky race. Kurt took the lead coming to 23 laps to go. Kyle Busch tried to go to the top line as he continues an attempt to fight back. 15 laps to go and Kurt struggled a bit around lapped traffic and Kyle was right on Kurt’s rear bumper. With 11 to go, Kurt had to fight to gain that spot in the playoffs as he slowly pulled away from his brother, but was fast approaching a lapped car in Kyle Larson. Kurt slid up the track with seven laps to go as Kyle had a shot for the lead but wasn’t able to clear him. Kurt held on as Kyle nearly hit the wall. Kurt has approached lapped traffic with five laps to go. Kurt gets by a couple of cars to create a bit of a gap. From there, the 2004 NASCAR Cup Champion made his way to the checkered flag and will win the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta! This will give Busch a spot in the playoffs and of the now four times Kurt and Kyle and finished 1-2, it’s now tied up at two.

“Hell yeah, we beat Kyle!” Kurt Busch cheered in his post-race interview. When Kurt talked about next season, he said he loves racing and wants to continue doing it, as well as racing the NextGen car. He asked the Atlanta crowd if they wanted to see him race there again in 2022 and the crowd roared.

Tyler Reddick now has the last spot in the playoffs, up by 96 points from Chris Buescher.

1. Kurt Busch
2. Kyle Busch
3. Martin Truex Jr
4. Alex Bowman
5. Ryan Blaney
6. Tyler Reddick
7. Chase Elliott
8. Christopher Bell
9. Matt DiBenedetto
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Austin Dillon
13. Denny Hamlin
14. Bubba Wallace
15. Chase Briscoe
16. Chris Buescher
17. Cole Custer
18. Kyle Larson
19. Joey Logano
20. William Byron
21. Ross Chastain
22. Corey Lajoie
23. Aric Almirola
24. Erik Jones
25. Ryan Preece
26. Anthony Alfredo
27. Michael McDowell
28. Ryan Newman
29. Justin Haley
30. BJ McLeod
31. Garrett Smithley
32. Bayley Currey
33. Cody Ware
34. Josh Bilicki
35. Quin Houff
36. Daniel Suarez
37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr