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Sonoma NASCAR: Kyle and Kurt Busch take their first Cup one-two

Kyle Busch held off brother Kurt to take the siblings' first NASCAR Sprint Cup one-two at Sonoma

The result came just five races after Joe Gibbs Toyota driver Kyle returned to action following his leg-breaking Daytona crash.

Elder brother Kurt looked the more likely victor for much of the Cup series' first road course round of 2015, leading 43 of the 110 laps and initially inching clear of poleman AJ Allmendinger after getting the better start.

But in a race of myriad strategy variables, Stewart-Haas driver Busch kept finding himself mired in traffic after pitting under yellow as others stayed out.

Despite charging first from 12th to fourth, then ninth to second after stops in the final quarter of the race, Kurt ran out of time to make it all the way back to the front, as his brother held him off by just half a second.

Michael Waltrip Racing's Clint Bowyer was in the thick of the late fight with the Busch brothers and wound up third ahead of champion Kevin Harvick.

Jimmie Johnson could easily have taken victory as he and Hendrick stuck doggedly to a two-stop strategy.

With most others pitting three times, Johnson led by nearly half a minute at one stage and ended up leading the most laps.

He was controlling the race until the final yellow, when the rest of the frontrunners all pitted to get fresh tyres and Johnson stayed out.

Although another four cars followed that tactic, they were all rapidly dismissed by the group on new rubber - led by the Buschs and Bowyer - over the final seven-lap shootout and Johnson fell to sixth behind Joey Logano.

Allmendinger was firmly in victory contention until an engine problem forced a trip back to the JTG Daugherty garage.

The race was briefly red-flagged after Martin Truex Jr damaged the concrete wall in a heavy crash triggered by contact with David Ragan.

Ragan was in further trouble later on when he came together with Carl Edwards on a restart while running on the cusp of the top five.

RESULTS - 110 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 2h55m39.s
2 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 0.532s
3 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 1.406s
4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 1.952s
5 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 4.971s
6 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6.842s
7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 9.119s
8 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 9.172s
9 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 9.558s
10 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 11.574s
11 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 11.774s
12 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 12.220s
13 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 12.869s
14 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 13.896s
15 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 14.118s
16 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 14.643s
17 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 15.210s
18 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.401s
19 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 15.464s
20 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 16.582s
21 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 18.700s
22 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 19.270s
23 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 22.371s
24 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 25.267s
25 Alex Kennedy Circle Sport Chevrolet 27.153s
26 Boris Said Go FAS Racing Ford 29.222s
27 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 1m00.694s
28 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
29 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 1 Lap
30 Justin Marks Front Row Motorsports Ford 1 Lap
31 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
32 Jeb Burton BK Racing Toyota 1 Lap
33 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 1 Lap
34 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 1 Lap
35 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 3 Laps
36 Landon Cassill Hillman Smith Motorsports Chevrolet 11 Laps
37 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 12 Laps
38 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet Axle
39 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota Accident
40 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Accident
41 J.J. Yeley BK Racing Toyota Accident
42 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet Accident
43 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford Accident

LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Kevin Harvick 616
2 Martin Truex Jr. 563
3 Joey Logano 559
4 Jimmie Johnson 546
5 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 545
6 Brad Keselowski 505
7 Jamie McMurray 497
8 Kasey Kahne 483
9 Matt Kenseth 479
10 Kurt Busch 469
11 Jeff Gordon 462
12 Paul Menard 452
13 Denny Hamlin 438
14 Ryan Newman 435
15 Aric Almirola 431
16 Clint Bowyer 430
17 Carl Edwards 405
18 Kyle Larson 390
19 Danica Patrick 377
20 Greg Biffle 368
21 Casey Mears 345
22 Austin Dillon 341
23 A.J. Allmendinger 329
24 Sam Hornish Jr. 307
25 David Ragan 304
26 Tony Stewart 301
27 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 286
28 Trevor Bayne 284
29 David Gilliland 263
30 Cole Whitt 261
31 Justin Allgaier 260
32 Brett Moffitt 215
33 Alex Bowman 208
34 Michael Annett 187
35 Josh Wise 171
36 Matt DiBenedetto 163
37 Kyle Busch 125
38 Michael McDowell 111
39 Jeb Burton 97
40 Alex Kennedy 67

PROVISIONALLY IN THE CHASE: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr

* Kyle Busch needs to get into the top 30 in points to take up a Chase place, despite Sonoma win

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