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Three-for-three: Kyle Busch sweeps Bristol week

Sun 22nd, August 2010

Bristol, TN (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch hit the trifecta at Bristol Motor Speedway and once again made history in NASCAR on Saturday.

Busch became the first driver in NASCAR to win all three of its national touring series races in the same week, as he drove into Bristol's victory lane in three of the last four nights.

After winning the Camping World Truck race on Wednesday and the Nationwide event on Friday, Busch put on a dominating performance in the IRWIN Tools Night Race by leading 282 of 500 laps and holding off David Reutimann at the finish by 0.68 seconds to sweep the week at the 0.533-mile, high-banked Tennessee track.

"I've been trying to do this since I started my NASCAR career, and fortunately tonight, I was able to get it done," Busch said just after he climbed out of his car and raised a broom in the air in victory lane. "I was the first one to do it, and I'm the first of a lot of things."

Busch has attempted a three-race sweep in NASCAR on the same week four times before.

His victory was the third of the season and the 19th of his Sprint Cup career. He also won a Cup race at Bristol for the fourth time.

"This [car] was awesome today," Busch added. "What a great race car. It's the second time I've run it this year."

During a round of green-flag pit stops late in the race, Jamie McMurray held the lead over Busch. The two drivers pitted at the same time, but Busch easily beat McMurray out of the pits.

Reutimann, who had pitted several laps earlier, inherited the lead when the cycle of stops was completed. But Busch chased down Reutimann and then passed him to take the lead for good with 72 laps remaining.

Reutimann's second-place finish came one day after he suffered food poisoning. Aric Almirola drove his car during the first of two practices on Friday. Reutimann recovered from his stomach ailment in time to participate in final practice and qualifying.

"My team did a good job, because I was only in the second half of practice, and they had to work with two different drivers, so the credit all goes to my team," Reutimann said.

McMurray rebounded from a pit-road mishap and a speeding penalty to finish third, while Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five.

"At one point, I thought we were going to have the car to beat, but at the end, we just didn't have the speed we needed," McMurray said.

Ryan Newman finished sixth, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth.

Jeff Gordon, who finished 11th, joined Kevin Harvick as those drivers who have now clinched a spot in the 12-driver field in the championship Chase.

Harvick locked down his position after winning last weekend's race at Michigan. He finished 14th at Bristol.

Kyle Busch, who moved up five spots to third in points, is expected to secure his spot in two weeks when the series returns to action at Atlanta.

Jimmie Johnson started on the pole and led 175 of the first 256 laps, but Johnson crashed into the wall after being hit from behind by Montoya following a restart.

"I thought I left [Montoya] enough room on the outside lane there," Johnson said. "We're on the straightaway for a little bit, and then all of the sudden, I got hooked with force. It's not like we bumped and banged, and I squeezed him. I thought we were on the straightaway and everything was fine, and then around I went."

Johnson finished 85 laps down in 35th. The four-time defending series champion also dropped four positions to ninth in points.

Bowyer's top-five run allowed him to keep the coveted 12th spot in points, with just two races remaining before the championship Chase begins next month at New Hampshire.

McMurray, the winner of both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, jumped two positions to 13th, trailing Bowyer by 100 points. Mark Martin fell to 14th after his 23rd-place run. Martin is only one point behind McMurray.