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Kyle Busch secures Bristol triple

Kyle Busch made history by becoming the first driver to win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series on the same weekend, after claiming his third Cup victory of the season on Saturday night at Bristol

The 25-year-old produced another display of his natural talent this week, first winning while driving for his own team in the Truck series on Wednesday, before taking his 10th win of the year in NASCAR's second tier series on Friday night, amid controversy due to contact with series leader Brad Keselowski while fighting for victory on the closing laps.

On Saturday night the odds did not look to be in his favour to win for a third time in Cup after qualifying only 19th, and not looking among the fastest in practice either. However he steadily climbed in the order until reaching polesitter Jimmie Johnson, who dominated during the first 171 laps of the race's 500.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver looked to be the main obstacle between Busch and a weekend triple, but it did not take long for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to claim the lead by taking advantage of lapped traffic. However he would lose it back to Johnson as the leaders pitted under the fourth caution period of the race, although only temporarily.

Busch attacked on the restart and got back ahead on the outside of Johnson and looked dominant up front from then on. But as the race went into its longest green-flag period, Earnhardt Ganassi's Jamie McMurray emerged as a contender for victory, actually passing the #18 Toyota of Busch for the lead with 111 laps remaining.

Then 11 laps later, when McMurray drove onto pit road for his final stop of the night, Busch decided to follow the leader into the pits, anticipating his final stop for fuel and tyres. As McMurray slowed down, Busch left it as late as his talent allowed him to slow his car down to the pit road speed limit, outbraking and passing the #1 Chevy in the process.

A quick stop allowed Busch to open the gap to McMurray but as the final stops cycled out, David Reutimann found himself in the lead of the race. It perhaps took longer than Busch expected for him to dispose of the Michael Waltrip Racing driver, until he eventually got past the #00 Toyota by getting him loose out of Turn 2.

For the last 72 laps Busch pulled away from his pursuers and despite fear of a tyre loosing air or a suspension part about to give up in the final laps, the driver nicknamed 'Rowdy' went on to claim his third Cup victory of the season and his 16th of the year, counting those in the Nationwide and Truck series, where he runs part-time.

"Last year we won the Truck race and were leading the Nationwide race and we got crashed out, and then we ended up winning the Cup race, so this is probably a year delayed," said Busch.

"Coming to Bristol you could say, 'yeah, well, we're supposed to run well here.' But still, it's cool to be able to put it all together in a complete weekend, with the truck, with the Nationwide car and with the Cup car."

Reutimann took an impressive second in the end after starting the weekend ill due to suspected food poisoning. Aric Almirola had to drive his car in practice as he was feeling unwell, but he eventually bounced back to be a contender for victory, holding off McMurray to the flag.

"I enjoyed racing the guys up front, Jamie and Kyle and those guys," said an exhausted Reutimann. "I feel really, really good about the finish, but I'm not feeling so hot right now, so I'm ready to go to sleep at some point. Maybe now."

McMurray's third place allowed him to jump to 13th in the standings with just two races to go before the Chase, although he is still 100 points away from Richard Childress' Clint Bowyer, who finished the race fourth behind him, recovering from an early penalty for speeding on pit road. Kasey Kahne rebounded from a similar penalty plus a deflating tyre to take fifth ahead of Stewart Haas' Ryan Newman and Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya.

The Colombian ran a solid race to seventh after being involved in an incident with early race leader Johnson on lap 262. Montoya was on the outside of the reigning champion and his left front made contact with Johnson's right rear while fighting for second place. The #48 Chevy ended up spinning and hitting the wall hard enough to be forced into the garage for lengthy repairs.

"We were on the straightaway and everything was fine and then around I went," said Johnson. "I don't think it was something intentional and I don't think he was trying to dump me but I will just have to look at the video and see. I really felt like I left him the room."

Denny Hamlin also had a tough night due to a broken suspension part, which kept him in the garage for a number of laps, while points leader Kevin Harvick struggled for most of the night and was 14th in the end.

With only two race left before the Chase, Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon is now mathematically locked in the championship play-off with Harvick, while the top 12 in the standings look almost set as only very good results for McMurray, Mark Martin and Newman and poor ones for Bowyer at Atlanta or Richmond would cause a change in the 12th position.

Pos  Driver              Car        Laps
 1.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     500
 2.  David Reutimann     Toyota     500
 3.  Jamie McMurray      Chevrolet  500
 4.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  500
 5.  Kasey Kahne         Ford       500
 6.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet  500
 7.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Chevrolet  500
 8.  Greg Biffle         Ford       500
 9.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      500
10.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       500
11.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  500
12.  Carl Edwards        Ford       500
13.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  500
14.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  500
15.  Reed Sorenson       Toyota     499
16.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  499
17.  Martin Truex Jr     Toyota     499
18.  Joey Logano         Toyota     499
19.  Brad Keselowski     Dodge      499
20.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota     499
21.  Paul Menard         Ford       499
22.  Travis Kvapil       Ford       498
23.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet  498
24.  Jeff Green          Ford       497
25.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      497
26.  David Gilliland     Ford       495
27.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  494
28.  Tony Raines         Ford       492
29.  Elliott Sadler      Ford       491
30.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  489
31.  AJ Allmendinger     Ford       488
32.  David Ragan         Ford       486
33.  Scott Speed         Toyota     486
34.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     473
35.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  415
36.  Kevin Conway        Toyota     212
37.  Landon Cassill      Chevrolet  129
38.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet  118
39.  Casey Mears         Toyota     58
40.  Robby Gordon        Toyota     50
41.  Todd Bodine         Toyota     47
42.  Scott Riggs         Toyota     32
43.  Michael McDowell    Toyota     16

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