Once was not enough for Kyle Busch.
One day after earning his first and long-desired grandfather’s clock at Martinsville Speedway for winning Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race, Busch went 2-for-2 by winning Sunday’s STP 500 Sprint Cup race.
Prior to Saturday’s Truck series win, Busch had gone winless in his first 30 career starts in Sprint Cup (21), Xfinity (one) and Truck Series (eight) competition at NASCAR’s oldest track.
Now Busch, who dominated by leading 352 of the 500-lap event, has matching grandfather clocks, courtesy of the half-mile bullring.
AJ Allmendinger finished second, followed by Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski.
MORE: Results and statistics from STP 500 at Martinsville
MORE: Busch moves into top 3 in Sprint Cup standings with Martinsville win
HOW BUSCH WON: It was second verse, same as the first for Busch. He dominated in Saturday’s Truck Series race en route to victory and followed the same gameplan to win Sunday’s STP 500. It was Busch’s first win of the 2016 season and his 35th career Cup win. Now in 22 Cup starts at Martinsville, his record includes one win, 10 top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.
WHO ELSE HAD A GOOD RACE: Allmendinger (second) had his best finish since winning at Watkins Glen in 2014, Larson (third) almost cashed in on his first career Cup win, Dillon (fourth) continued his strong season by earning his second top-five finish and Vickers (seventh) earned his and the No. 14’s season-best finish … The top-finishing rookie was Ryan Blaney, who wound up 19th, one spot in front of fellow rookie Chase Elliott … Danica Patrick closed in on the top-five before being shuffled back late in the race to a 16th-place finish.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Denny Hamlin, who won this race last year, saw his day end when he wrecked on Lap 221. Hamlin, who has won five times in his Sprint Cup career at Martinsville, suffered his worst career finish there ever in 21 starts … Aric Almirola made an early exit due to engine problems and finished last in the 40-car field … Josh Wise took his car to the garage and bowed out about two-thirds of the way through the race due to electrical problems, ending up 38th.
NOTABLE: Busch becomes the fifth different winner this season, following Jimmie Johnson (two wins at Atlanta and Fontana), Denny Hamlin (Daytona), Brad Keselowski (Las Vegas) and Kevin Harvick (Phoenix).
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “To win here at Martinsville is cool. I finally get to take a (grandfather’s) clock home. A lot of people said I didn’t deserve (to win) yesterday (in the Truck Series race). Maybe I didn’t. But I got one today.” – Kyle Busch
WHAT’S NEXT: The Cup series moves to Texas Motor Speedway and a race under the lights on Saturday night, April 9.
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