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Dover NASCAR: Kyle Busch denies Chase Elliott first win late on

Kyle Busch took the victory for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup race at Dover in a dramatic late battle with Chase Elliott, who was denied his first win

Elliott had climbed into the lead battle by the end of the second stage having started 12th on the grid, and looked set to break his Cup duck in his 70th start.

Busch, who had started second on the grid behind Martin Truex Jr, remained in the hunt for the win.

The pair were separated by 4.1 seconds with 30 laps of the race left to run, but that gap gradually decreased as Elliott started to encounter backmarkers.

The race was then decided with just two laps to go, with Busch pulling to the outside lane to defeat Elliott and make it two wins from the last two races.

Jimmie Johnson finished third ahead of polesitter and playoffs leader Martin Truex Jr, with stage two winner Kyle Larson rounding out the top five.

Truex was part of the lead battle for most of the race, however he was gradually shuffled back and overtaken by Johnson with just a handful of laps to run.

Clint Bowyer finished ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr to settle sixth and seventh place, with Jamie McMurray climbing from his starting place of 26th to ninth behind Daniel Suarez.

McMurray sealed a playoff place ahead of Ryan Newman by taking advantage of a Jeffrey Earnhardt spin that pitched him into the barriers at pitroad approaching quarter distance.

The Chip Ganassi driver, along with Ricky Stenhouse Jr and first stage winner Brad Keselowski, lucked into an early caution brought out by Jeffrey Earnhardt approaching the quarter distance, after he spun into the barriers at pit road entry approaching quarter distance.

Opting not to pit initially, the trio managed to get back on the lead lap with later stops that allowed them to climb into the top 10 as stage one came to a close.

Even though Stenhouse Jr eventually finished in 19th, that top 10 stage finish allowed McMurray to gain a crucial two points advantage in the playoffs over Ryan Newman out of the top 12.

Newman will join Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Austin Dillon as drivers who will not advance to the next stage of the playoffs.

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