When you’re hot, you’re hot – and Kyle Busch is on fire.
The defending Sprint Cup champion won his fourth consecutive NASCAR race, capturing Saturday night’s Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch has won back-to-back Sprint Cup races at Martinsville Speedway and Texas. He also won the Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville last Saturday and Friday night’s Xfinity Series race at Texas.
Busch took the lead at Texas just after the final restart on Lap 301 and built nearly a 2-second margin, capturing the checkered flag for the 36th time in his Sprint Cup career.
Busch takes over the lead in the Sprint Cup standings through seven races and also earned the ninth weekend sweep of his NASCAR career.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second, followed by Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, and Martin Truex Jr., who led the most laps (141).
On Lap 223, Carl Edwards was running second to teammate Matt Kenseth when the No. 19 slowed coming out of Turn 1 and limped back to pit road for a loose wheel. He dropped from 2nd to 19th and off the lead lap. Edwards rallied to finish seventh.
MORE: Results of Duck Commander 500
MORE: Kyle Busch takes over lead in Sprint Cup standings
HOW BUSCH WON: Patience was Busch’s biggest virtue. His team kept improving his car with every pit stop, while he kept himself close in the top 10 for most of the evening. Busch took the lead off the final restart on Lap 301 and cruised.
WHO ELSE HAD A GOOD RACE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t lead a lap, but he came close to earning his first win of 2016. … Chase Elliott (fifth) led a lap and earned the best finish and first top-five of his young Sprint Cup career. In addition to being the highest-finishing rookie in the race, Elliott has finished in the top eight in three of the last four races. ... Kasey Kahne (eighth) earned his best finish of the season and his best finish since Kansas Speedway (fourth) last October.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: After being tagged from behind by Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle hit the Turn 2 wall hard with 47 laps to go, ending his night. Biffle was running 17th at the time and finished 39th. … Clint Bowyer continues to struggle, finishing a season-worst 38th. Bowyer has finished 30th or worse in four of the first seven races of 2016.
NOTABLE: The start was delayed one hour, 50 minutes to dry the track from rain in the afternoon. … Trevor Bayne took the lead with 75 laps to go, the first time he’s led a Sprint Cup race since May 2014 at Talladega. Bayne led 12 laps before being passed by Truex. Still, those 12 laps led were a single-race career-best for Bayne.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It’s pretty darn good, I’ll tell you that. I have a great wife, a great son, having a blast and living the dream with (crew chief) Adam Stevens and these guys. … It’s just fun, right now it’s all clicking and going together.” – Kyle Busch to Fox Sports on life these days.
WHAT’S NEXT: Sunday, April 17 (1 p.m. ET), Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway
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