NASCAR Richmond: Kyle Busch matches Harvick’s three wins in a row – NASCAR

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Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch matched Kevin Harvick’s streak of three 2018 NASCAR Cup series wins in a row after taking victory at Richmond.

Busch had to be patient in order to move into winning contention late on, as Penske’s Joey Logano swept the first two stages in a clean start to the race.

The one-time Cup champion kept himself in the lead pack as the third stage began and was into third with just 50 laps remaining.

When Penske’s Ryan Blaney, Cole Whitt and Ryan Newman collided and brought out the full-course caution, Busch followed the ever-improving Martin Truex Jr and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick – who had driven from the back of the field after an early penalty – into the pits.

Busch returned to the track in third but quickly went around the outside of Harvick for second before another caution arrived when Newman’s engine appeared to blow with just 33 laps of 400 remaining.

He was then able to depose Truex and held on when David Ragan caused the final caution inside the last 10 laps.

The victory meant Busch matched Harvick’s benchmark of three wins in a row just a day after claiming his rival was still better than him in 2018.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott benefitted from that late caution to go second, his best result of the 2018 season, in his Chevrolet Camaro.

HMS had shown further signs of getting to grips with the 2018 Camaro when team rookie William Byron ran fifth in the second stage, but it was Elliott who gradually worked his way back to his starting position of second after falling to the fringes of the top 10 in the first stage.

Busch’s team-mate Denny Hamlin was third ahead of long-time pacesetter Logano, who fell back in the late cautions.

Harvick was fifth having returned to the fore following a pitlane infraction for equipment going over the pitwall that sent him to the rear of the field.

Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson finished sixth after contact with the outside wall earlier in the race while working his way up from 17th on the grid.

Truex mistimed his final pitstop and fell to 14th while Kurt Busch also dropped out of winning contention to 11th.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps
1 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 402
2 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 402
3 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 402
4 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 402
5 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 402
6 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 402
7 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 402
8 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 402
9 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 402
10 Daniel Suarez Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 402
11 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 402
12 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 402
13 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 402
14 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 402
15 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 402
16 Matt DiBenedetto Go FAS Racing Ford 402
17 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 402
18 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 402
19 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 402
20 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 402
21 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 402
22 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 402
23 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 402
24 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 401
25 Darrell Wallace Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 401
26 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 401
27 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 401
28 Ross Chastain Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 401
29 Kasey Kahne Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 400
30 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 400
31 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 400
32 Daniel Hemric Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 399
33 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 399
34 Landon Cassill StarCom Racing Chevrolet 397
35 Gray Gaulding BK Racing Toyota 393
36 Harrison Rhodes Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 386
37 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 368
38 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 188



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