Kyle Busch Wins the Sharpie 500

Sitting just out of the race for the Chase Kyle Busch did everything he could Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway to get himself in a position to make a run for the Chase in the remaining races before the teams and drivers meet for the showdown. Pole-sitter Mark Martin did his best to keep Busch behind him in the race to the Chase by finishing second in the Sharpie 500. He stayed right on Busch’s tail for the last four laps and tried several times to pass but wasn’t able to find the speed and line to make it past Busch for the victory.  This was Busch’s fourth victory of the year and the second time during the 2009 NASCAR season that he has won on the pavement of Bristol Motor Speedway. This was despite driving a car on Saturday night that certainly wasn’t the best on the track and this is certainly a testament to his ability to drive.

Kyle Busch is making his move for the race for the Chase

Kyle Busch was able to bring the goods when he needed it but can he do it again. He still needs to run fast and smart to make enough points to make it to the Chase. Busch did move up two positions to 13^th position in the race to the Chase with this win in the Sharpie 500. He’s now just 34 points behind Matt Kenseth in 12^th place and is just 60 points behind Mark Martin in 10^th place. He can still easily make it to the Chase but it’s going to come down to the final races. This is just the way the Chase was designed to add energy and excitement to the end of the year and it appears to be working quite well. The top twelve racers after the Richmond race on September 12 qualify for the Chase and will get to try their luck in the showdown.

Kyle Busch had a lot of good things to say about the class act Mark Martin after the race. He commented that he believes Mark could have made it past him if he had decided to do a little dirty racing but Martin is such a class act he just won’t do these things. Mark Martin of course down plays any such notions and says he couldn’t race any harder. Humility seems to be a common affliction with NASCAR racers and it’s a nice characteristic to see at work.

Mark Ambrose finished third, followed by Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin and then Ryan Newman in sixth place. Kurt Busch had another strong race and finished seventh, Jimmie Johnson came in eighth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ninth and the top ten was completed by Matt Kenseth.

“Image: Zuma Press”