Watkins Glen NASCAR: Kyle Busch resists Brad Keselowski for victory

Busch lost the 2012 Glen race to Marcos Ambrose when Keselowski tapped him sideways on the final lap.

But this time it was Ambrose who lost out, having dominated the first half of the race from pole position.

Ironically Ambrose's Richard Petty Motorsports team-mate Aric Almirola played a part in his downfall, crashing due to a flat tyre as the final pitstops were unfolding.

Crucially for Ambrose, he had not managed to stop before the caution prompted by his team-mate, whereas his main rivals - led by Busch - had.

That dropped Ambrose right back to 13th for the restart, and he made little progress before picking up damage and then being spun by Max Papis with six laps to go.

Ambrose's spinning Ford collected Brian Vickers on its wall to the barriers and had to retire.

That incident was the second multi-car restart tangle of the closing stages, following a similar incident at the same part of the Esses when Matt Kenseth tagged Kasey Kahne and sent him into the wall and then Hendrick team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Following another clear-up, the race came down to a two-lap shootout, with Penske driver Keselowski trying everything he could to overtake Busch's Joe Gibbs Toyota.

A final-corner bid sent Keselowski sliding, and he only just held on to second as Martin Truex Jr gained.

Keselowski had earlier fought back from a spin that dropped him from seventh to 22nd.

Juan Pablo Montoya was caught out in the pits in the same manner as Ambrose, sending him from fourth to 12th. He recovered to fifth, just behind Carl Edwards, and ahead of front row starter Clint Bowyer.

Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch were next up, with AJ Allmendinger salvaging 10th. He had been third before running out of fuel and then picking up a pit penalty that left him 32nd.

Kevin Harvick was a lead contender for a while on an alternate pit strategy, but it only gave him 13th place in the end.

Other incidents included a struggling Jeff Gordon crashing heavily early on before rejoining in a patched-up car.

There was also a 22-minute red flag spell after a multi-car midfield tangle in which Victor Gonzalez Jr dropped a lot of oil as he tried to limp back to the pits.

Results - 90 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota             2h32m04.000s
 2.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford                       +0.486s
 3.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                    +0.582s
 4.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford                 +1.357s
 5.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet       +1.833s
 6.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                    +2.365s
 7.  Joey Logano         Penske Ford                       +2.778s
 8.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet                +3.344s
 9.  Kurt Busch          Furniture Row Chevrolet           +4.190s
10.  AJ Allmendinger     JTG Daugherty Toyota              +4.223s
11.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet       +4.743s
12.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                      +5.018s
13.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet               +5.516s
14.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet            +5.966s
15.  Max Papis           Stewart-Haas Chevrolet            +6.343s
16.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford                 +7.146s
17.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet               +7.280s
18.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford                 +7.441s
19.  Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota                  +7.747s
20.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet            +7.868s
21.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                    +8.781s
22.  Boris Said          FAS Lane Ford                    +10.362s
23.  Matt Kenseth        Joe Gibbs Toyota                 +10.534s
24.  Owen Kelly          Phoenix Chevrolet                +10.621s
25.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   +10.700s
26.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet              +10.789s
27.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet                +11.820s
28.  Landon Cassill      Circle Sport Chevrolet           +12.136s
29.  Alex Kennedy        Humphrey Smith Toyota            +16.927s
30.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet               +5 laps*
31.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                       +6 laps*
32.  Brian Vickers       Waltrip Toyota                    +6 laps
33.  David Stremme       Swan Toyota                       +7 laps
34.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet                +8 laps
35.  Ron Fellows         Circle Sport Chevrolet           +16 laps
36.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet               +25 laps

* Not running at chequered flag

Retirements:

     Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                        58 laps
     Michael McDowell    Front Row Ford                    58 laps
     Brian Keselowski    Keselowski Toyota                 47 laps
     Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                         41 laps
     Victor Gonzalez Jr  Baldwin Chevrolet                 39 laps
     Tomy Drissi         NEMCO Toyota                      39 laps
     David Reutimann     BK Toyota                          4 laps