Kyle Busch takes another Bristol win

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was a contender all day and led early on while most were still trying to figure out how to get the best of the new right-side tyre specification, following NASCAR's decision to change the tyre compound due to excessive wear issues during Friday's practice session.

However it was Busch's final stop during the seventh caution of the day that gave him the track position that he held all the way to the chequered flag in order to take his fourth Bristol victory in his last five outings on the high banks of the half-mile oval.

Busch first led the race from laps 84 to 91, then again from laps 270 to 341, and following his final stop he emerged ahead of polesitter Carl Edwards and reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, who had been leading up to that point, and looked in control at the front of the field.

Once the green flag waved again, Edwards tried to challenge Busch but three further cautions followed one after another in a matter of a few laps, preventing his attack from gaining any momentum.

With 38 laps remaining the green waved for the final time after the 10th caution of the day and Edwards tried to run side-by-side with Busch. He just managed to do so but the former Nationwide champion held on to the outside lane and after a few laps he was ahead once again.

From behind Johnson put the pressure on Edwards after that, allowing Busch to drive away to his 20th career win in Cup and his fourth out of 10 races contested in NASCAR series this year.

"Our guys on that last pitstop won this race coming out of the pits firs," said Busch "I don't know if I could have got by Carl... Carl was good. Our car was definitely better on the longer run. We kind of stretched it out a little bit there. I was worried that Jimmie might get by him and come frazzle me for a little while. I felt good about these guys and what they did."

Edwards led the race early on but did not manage to translate his qualifying pace into another race win. His final stop also allowed him to move up in the order, being narrowly beaten to the timing line by Busch. Edwards believes he should have raced his rival harder in the end, but admitted he could not keep up with Busch's pace.

"I thought I could get to him at the end and rough him up a little bit but and maybe get by him, but his car took off," Edwards said.

"I just told them I should have hit him harder when I got to his rear bumper the first time, but we were racing really hard. His car was better there at the end. I didn't know how fast Jimmie was, so I thought, 'Man, if we start roughing each other up, it might end up worse for us'. But it was a good race."

Johnson led the most laps during the day and despite lamenting a slow final stop which probably cost him a first win of the season, he still backed his pit crew - which has new members for this year, following a troubled end of 2010 on pit road.

"The race off pit road is what got us," said Johnson. "Track position was everything. Really, [Kyle Busch] and I didn't seem much off [Edwards] all day. We were pretty equal on pace. So whoever had clean air was going to be in control. We just didn't get off pit road in front of everybody.

"Had great pitstops all day long, just a little off there at the end."

Matt Kenseth finished fourth behind Johnson, while Richard Childress' Paul Menard continued to impress with a strong start to his season, finishing fifth despite his engine being down a cylinder during the second half of the race.

Kevin Harvick managed a sixth place in the end despite spinning his Richard Childress Chevrolet with 63 laps to go after being tapped from behind while trying to avoid hitting the slowing Red Bull Toyota of Kasey Kahne ahead of him.

Penske's Kurt Busch was seventh and took over the points lead from Tony Stewart, while Roush Fenway's Greg Biffle, Kahne and Stewart Haas' Ryan Newman rounded out the top 10.

The biggest loser at the front of the standings was Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya, who did a remarkable recovery from 36th on the grid up to the top 10 until a loose wheel on a pitstop forced him to a green-flag stop which put him two laps down.

Former points leader Stewart finished 19th and dropped down to third in the standings.

Results - 500 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                 2h53m55.000s
 2.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford                + 0.946s
 3.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet               + 1.389s
 4.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford                + 4.193s
 5.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet              + 4.703s
 6.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet              + 4.789s
 7.  Kurt Busch          Penske Dodge                     + 4.810s
 8.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford                + 5.902s
 9.  Kasey Kahne         Red Bull Toyota                  + 6.022s
10.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet           + 6.611s
11.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet               + 6.829s
12.  Mark Martin         Hendrick Chevrolet               + 7.439s
13.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota             + 7.451s
14.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet               + 8.003s
15.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                       + 9.009s
16.  David Ragan         Roush Fenway Ford                + 9.595s
17.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                  + 10.461s
18.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                    + 10.993s
19.  Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet          + 14.518s
20.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet              + 2 laps
21.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet      + 2 laps
22.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet          + 2 laps
23.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                     + 3 laps
24.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet      + 3 laps
25.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet                + 3 laps
26.  Travis Kvapil       Front Row Ford                   + 4 laps
27.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   + 5 laps
28.  Tony Raines         Front Row Ford                   + 6 laps
29.  Bill Elliott        Phoenix Chevrolet                + 7 laps
30.  David Reutimann     Waltrip Toyota                   + 7 laps
31.  AJ Allmendinger     Petty Ford                       + 7 laps
32.  Andy Lally          TRG Chevrolet                    + 9 laps
33.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                    + 12 laps
34.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford              + 18 laps

Retirements:

     Clint Bowyer        Childress Chevrolet              456 laps
     Brian Vickers       Red Bull Toyota                 441 laps*
     Casey Mears         Germain Toyota                  427 laps*
     Dennis Setzer       K-Automotive Dodge               336 laps
     Robby Gordon        Gordon Dodge                     127 laps
     JJ Yeley            Whitney Chevrolet                 97 laps
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                      72 laps
     Landon Cassill      Germain Toyota                    36 laps
     Michael McDowell    HP Toyota                         35 laps

* Running again at chequered flag