Kurt Busch victorious over brother Kyle in overtime finish at Kentucky

Kurt Busch prevailed in a thrilling overtime duel with younger brother Kyle to take the victory in the Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway.

The win snapped a winless streak for both Kurt and Chip Ganassi Racing. Kurt last won at Bristol last August while CGR last saw victory lane in Richmond in September 2017.

The pair of brothers from Las Vegas, Nevada set the pace right from the get-go and won the race’s opening 80 lap stages. Kurt came to the forefront late in Stage 1 by way of a fuel only pitstop which put him in the lead after pole-sitter Daniel Suarez led the race’s opening 49 laps. He then survived two late cautions and a late charge from Joey Logano to take the win.

Kyle reigned supreme in a less eventful second stage and took the win with little contest after taking the lead from Ricky Stenhouse, Jr on Lap 104.

The final 160 lap segment began with Clint Bowyer picking up the lead with William Byron in tow, the pair having stayed out under the yellow.

Boywer and Byron ran in lock-step while Aric Almirola cruised in third ahead of a battle between Kurt and Kyle Busch for fourth and fifth.

A spin by seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson briefly interrupted the action but Byron’s race would turn sour on the restart that followed.

The Hendrick Motorsports rookie was found to be slightly ahead of Bowyer at the restart zone line and was assessed a penalty.

The penalty moved Kurt Busch up to second as Bowyer led the next 38 laps. The pair swapped the lead a few times past the 300-mile mark with Busch coming out ahead on Lap 205 just as Bowyer ducked onto pit lane to kick off the final round of stops.

Kurt led the night eight laps before surrendering the lead over to Kyle on Lap 214 for four fresh Goodyear Eagles and fuel.

Kyle and Logano stayed out a few more laps and made their final stop on Lap 226. That ended the pit cycle for the leaders as Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman led a handful of laps before their respective stops.

Logano and Kyle Busch briefly fought over the top spot until Logano cleared him on Lap 249 and began to pull away.

Everything changed on Lap 250 when Bubba Wallace spun and triggered an Overtime finish.

Logano and Kyle Busch lined up side by side for the restart as Kurt Busch shot to the outside with a push from Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson. The brothers ran side by side and rubbed fended with Kurt prevailing on the high line to take the checkered flag .076s ahead – the closest margin of victory so far this season.

Kurt relished the battle with his brother and felt jubilated after a sure win last week at Daytona slipped from his grasp when he pitted just before the race was red flagged.

“Racing your little brother every week….I’m proud of him, I’m proud that he gave me a little bit of room on that outside,” Kurt said after claiming his 31st career win. “He could have clobbered us against the wall and third place is probably what we would have got. But what an awesome run!

“We got a yellow at the end that put us back. Whatever last week was, it’s this week right now and we got the trophy!”

Behind the Busch Brothers was Kyle’s teammate Erik Jones in third, who scored his fifth top five of the season. Kyle Larson made it two Ganassi Chevrolets in the top five in fourth ahead of Denny Hamlin in fifth.

Bowyer rebounded to finish sixth and led a quartet of Fords as Logano faded to seventh on the overtime restart. Pole-sitter Daniel Suarez rebounded from falling two laps down due to a speeding penalty to finish eighth ahead of Ryan Newman in ninth and Chris Buescher claimed his first top ten since the Charlotte in May.