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Kurt Busch earned his first Coca-Cola 600 victory on Sunday.

Busch pulls off big double of his own at Charlotte

Penske driver follows All-Star win with Coca-Cola 600

By Sporting News Wire Service
June 2, 2010
04:24 PM EDT
type size: + -

CONCORD, N.C. -- Call it Roger's revenge.

Kurt Busch won Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 for team owner Roger Penske, spoiling a dream day for rival owner Chip Ganassi, who started Sunday off with Dario Franchitti's victory in the Indianapolis 500.

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I knew that whoever came out ahead on that last pit stop between Kurt and I -- if somebody didn't screw up -- that would be the race winner.

-- JAMIE MCMURRAY

Busch crossed the finish line .737 seconds ahead of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Jamie McMurray to complete a sweep of both NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Charlotte -- last Saturday's Sprint All-Star Race and Sunday's 600.

The victory was Busch's second of the season and the 22nd of his career. He is the seventh driver to win both Charlotte races during May Speedweeks, and his victory prevented Ganassi from winning the IndyCar Series' most prestigious race and NASCAR's longest on the same day.

Kyle Busch finished third, followed by Mark Martin and David Reutimann. Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, pole-sitter Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth completed the top 10.

In Victory Lane, Kurt Busch dedicated the win to Penske.

"I thought about that Ganassi car behind us," Busch said. "He wasn't going to get by us."

Because the race started in sunlight and ended under the lights, Busch was worried about changing track conditions.

"This was a race for the ages," Busch said. "To have a car as good as it was in the daytime, I was afraid of it at night. I didn't know if it was going to be able to give me the handling like it had early on in the race. And it played out in our favor.

"I'm speechless with the fact that we swept both races. ... McMurray kept us honest. He was right there at the end. It wasn't like we faded back into the pack. He just separated himself from the pack and came and got us. He taught me a couple things about my line. I needed to adjust it, and it helped us stay out in front of him at the end."

McMurray, who gave Ganassi the first leg of the unprecedented Daytona 500/Indy 500 double, finished second for the third time in the past five races.

The difference was the final pit stop. McMurray had a lead of more than two seconds when Marcos Ambrose crashed off Turn 2 on Lap 377 of 400. Kurt Busch and Kenseth beat McMurray out of the pits after two-tire stops for all three drivers.

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Because Gordon, Martin and Newman stayed on the track during the caution, McMurray restarted sixth on Lap 382. By the time the cars got back to the line, Busch and McMurray were running 1-2 and quickly separated themselves from the cars behind them.

McMurray was closing at the end of the race but ran out of time.

Get your All-Star Winner gear!

"I knew that whoever came out ahead on that last pit stop between Kurt and I -- if somebody didn't screw up -- that would be the race winner," McMurray said. "It would take me too many laps to run Kurt back down, and then when you get within 10 or 12 car lengths, you just stall out.

"I just didn't have enough time at the end."

One short sequence hobbled the cars of three championship contenders. On Lap 167, four-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson slid sideways off Turn 4, tapping the outside wall with the right rear of his No. 48 Chevrolet.

Johnson's spin forced Denny Hamlin to take evasive action, damaging the front splitter of the No. 11 Toyota as Hamlin rolled through the infield grass. Under caution for Johnson's spin, Kyle Busch, who came to the pits with the lead, collided with Brad Keselowski on pit road, damaging both cars.

In Johnson's case, the spin was the least of his troubles. On Lap 273, Johnson spun off Turn 2 and slammed nose-first into the inside wall. He returned to the track on Lap 306 after extensive repairs to his Chevy and finished 37th.

Kyle Busch recovered from his troubles to run third, but his comeback wasn't without incident. An angry Jeff Burton confronted Busch on pit road after the race. Burton took issue with Busch for late contact between their cars, which resulted in a cut left rear tire on Burton's Chevy and turned a promising run into a 25th-place finish.

"I like racing with Kyle -- I really do," Burton said. "I enjoy it, but when he gets overaggressive and I pay the price for it, I won't tolerate it. I'm just not going to put up with it. I don't mind racing with him. I don't mind him being aggressive, but I'm not going to be the victim of his aggressiveness. I'm just not going to put up with it."

Busch had a measured response to Burton's criticism.

"I said, 'Look, man, last restart of the race. You have to go, make some bold moves. It wasn't me that made it three-wide, it was your teammate [Clint Bowyer]. Have a chat with him,'" Busch said. "I would be more than happy to sit with Jeff Burton and talk with him about it and for him to point [it] out on a replay to me."

Notes-n-Nuggets

• Kurt Busch became the seventh driver to win the All-Star Race and the 600 in the same year, but the second in the past three years (Kasey Kahne in 2008).
• This was Kurt Busch's first top-10 finish in 10 Coca-Cola 600s, and his first Charlotte victory in 20 races.
• Five of the past six Charlotte races were won from a top-five starting position. Kurt Busch started second.
• This was Kurt Busch's fifth top-10 finish in eight superspeedway races this season.
• Kurt Busch led 12 times for 252 laps, including the final 19. He has now led 723 laps, the most by any driver.
• Kurt Busch climbed from ninth to sixth in the points standings.
• Seven of the top 12 in points changed at Charlotte.
• Jimmie Johnson (37th) had a 108-point lead after the eighth race of the season at Texas. He is now seventh, 204 points behind leader Harvick, a 312-point swing in five races.
• Jamie McMurray (second) posted his best finish in eight Coca-Cola 600s.
• David Reutimann (fifth) has scored top-10 finishes in the three Coca-Cola 600s in which he has competed.
• Jeff Gordon (sixth) has finished 14th or better in the past six Charlotte races.
• Powered by Racing Recall

The End

Also

Coca-Cola 600

Results
Pos. Driver Make
1. Kurt Busch Dodge
2. Jamie McMurray Chevrolet
3. Kyle Busch Toyota
4. Mark Martin Chevrolet
5. David Reutimann Toyota

Sprint Cup Series

Standings
Pos. +/- Driver Points Behind
1. -- Kevin Harvick 1,898 Leader
2. -- Kyle Busch 1,869 -29
3. -- Matt Kenseth 1,781 -117
4. +2 Jeff Gordon 1,760 -138
5. -- Denny Hamlin 1,732 -166
Photo Gallery

Driver of the Week Eric McClure

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