Busch brothers take stage wins in Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway
Staff Report
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
Kyle Busch made it a Busch brothers sweep by beating Kurt Busch off pit road after a Lap 157 caution and taking Stage 2 of Sunday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. This came after Kurt won Stage 1 in dominating fashion.
For Kyle it was his 10th stage victory of the season, tops in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Busch crossed the start-finish line under caution to get the green-white-checkered flag for the stage win.
Kurt Busch finished second in the stage, followed by Denny Hamlin in third place in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Hamlin's teammate Erik Jones was fourth, and Kyle Larson rallied for a fifth-place finish after a couple of perilous moments in the stage.
RELATED: Stage 2 results
Larson led the first 39 laps of the stage but lost 12 spots on a slow pit stop after a caution on Lap 140 for an incident involving Ryan Newman and Daniel Suarez, two of the drivers on the playoff bubble. With just a few laps to go in the stage, Larson wiggled in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet as a tire appeared to be in danger of going down.
Meanwhile, Joey Logano kissed the wall on Lap 117, then kissed the back of Chase Elliott's vehicle a few laps later. Afterward, Elliott dropped back in the pack and was 11th at the end of the stage. The two drivers battled for track position later in the stage, as well.
Logano's right-rear tire went down on Lap 173 and the No. 22 Team Penske Ford had to come down pit road. Logano emerged from the pit stop two laps down.
Finish
Driver
Team
Points
1
Kyle Busch
Joe Gibbs Racing
10
2
Kurt Busch
Chip Ganassi Racing
9
3
Denny Hamlin
Joe Gibbs Racing
8
4
Erik Jones
Joe Gibbs Racing
7
5
Kyle Larson
Chip Ganassi Racing
6
6
Clint Bowyer
Stewart-Haas Racing
5
7
Jimmie Johnson
Hendrick Motorsports
4
8
William Byron
Hendrick Motorsports
3
9
Brad Keselowski
Team Penske
2
10
Kevin Harvick
Stewart-Haas Racing
1
STAGE 1
Kurt Busch took the lead from Chase Elliott on Lap 79 and held on through Lap 100 to win Stage 1 of Sunday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Busch led two times for a total of 72 laps as the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet showed plenty of speed through the first stage.
For Busch, it was his third stage win of the 2019 Monster Energy Series season. Busch finished 1.701 seconds ahead of Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Busch's teammate Kyle Larson finished third as Chevrolets took the top three spots.
Busch's brother Kyle was fourth after starting 33rd because of an engine change to the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
RELATED: Stage 1 results
Pole winner William Byron was 11th in the opening stage, falling back seven spots because of a slow pit stop during the second of two cautions during the stage.
Sunday's race got underway after almost a four-hour delay because of inclement weather. As a result, there was a competition caution at Lap 35 in order to check track conditions. Stage 1 was 100 laps of a scheduled 367 laps for the race.