Kurt Busch Wins The Coca-Cola 600

Kurt Busch takes control, wins Sunday's 600

By Jim Utter - jutter@charlotteobserver.com

Sunday, May. 30, 2010




Crew members perform a pit stop on Kurt Busch's car during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., on Sunday, May 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)



5-29-2010 Charlotte motor speedway during the pre race show at the COCA COLA 600 LAURA-CHASE MCGEHEE - lcmcgehee@charlotteobserver.com

CONCORD, N.C. – Kurt Busch already had one for the money.
Sunday night was for the points.

The elder Busch brother swept both Sprint Cup wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway this month, winning Sunday night’s Coca Cola 600 following his victory last weekend in the all-star race, which paid $1 million to the winner.

While the 600 payout wasn’t even close, it was Busch’s second Cup win of the season. It was also the first at Charlotte for he and team owner Roger Penske.

It’s the second time in three years a Dodge driver has swept the Cup races in May at CMS. Kasey Kahne won both of the spring races driving a Dodge in 2008.

It didn’t take long for Busch to establish his dominance Sunday night and he led 76 of the first 92 laps.

Jimmie Johnson took the lead for the first time after a two-tire pit stop under caution on Lap 94. On the restart on Lap 96, Johnson led and was followed by Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch.

Kyle Busch passed Johnson for the lead for the first time on Lap 131.

Teams began a round of green-flag pit stops on Lap 145. When the cycle was completed on Lap 151, Kyle Busch remained the leader, followed by Kurt Busch and Johnson.

On Lap 166, Johnson hit the wall and as his No. 48 Chevrolet came down the track, Hamlin dove into the frontstretch grass to avoid an accident. Both cars suffered damage and needed repairs on pit road.

Under caution for that incident, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski wrecked during a round of pit stops on pit road, heavily damaging both of their cars.

On the restart on Lap 173, Kurt Busch took over the lead, followed by David Reutimann and Greg Biffle.

The race remained green through another round of pit stops. When the stops were completed on Lap 271, Matt Kenseth took over the lead and was followed by Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer.
Johnson again got loose and this time wrecked hard on the backstretch on Lap 273 to bring out the fifth caution. Johnson went to the garage for extensive repairs.

“That first one was just a racing deal,” Johnson said. “I got in the fence and did some damage and we were trying to recover from that and I was trying to run from the leader, trying to be respectful of the leader, and I had the leader on my tail coming through.

"We made some big adjustments to the car and basically adjusted it to free it up there and I just spun out off of (Turn) 2.”

On the restart on Lap 278, Kenseth led, followed by Kurt Busch and Bowyer.

On Lap 299, Jamie McMurray dove below Kurt Busch to take the lead for the first time.

After 300 of 400 laps, McMurray led, followed by Kurt Busch, Reutimann, Bowyer and Kenseth.

Robby Gordon slammed the wall on Lap 301 to bring out the sixth caution. All the lead-lap cars pitted and Kurt Busch came off pit road first, followed by McMurray, Kenseth, Reutimann and Jeff Gordon.

Greg Biffle scraped the wall on Lap 309 to bring out another caution. Lead-lap cars remained on the track and Kurt Busch led on the restart on Lap 314.

McMurray ran down Kurt Busch for the lead again on Lap 340.
With at least one more pit stop required to make the distance on fuel, teams began making green-flag stops on Lap 353. When the cycle was completed on Lap 366, McMurray remained the leader. He was followed by Kurt Busch, Kenseth, Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch.

Marcos Ambrose wrecked and brought out a caution on Lap 378. Three lead-lap cars stayed out – Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Newman, with the rest pitting and taking two tires.
Kurt Busch was the first off pit road, followed by Kenseth and McMurray.

On the first lap following the restart on Lap 381, Kurt Busch moved from fourth to the lead and McMurray moved from sixth to second.