Kyle Busch passed Clint Bowyer to take the lead on Lap 269 of 285 — with his spotter, Jeff Dickerson, saying “Say goodnight, Gracie” over his radio as Busch went by — and went on to win Sunday’s Shelby 427 in his hometown at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Busch was fourth on a restart on Lap 264 but jumped into contention quickly while Bowyer battled Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton for the lead. Busch worked past Burton first and then took the lead en route to his first victory of the season.
It was his 13th Cup victory — all at different tracks. This one, however, probably means the most.
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“Thank you guys, I don’t believe it! This is awesome,” Busch said as he smoked his tires and nearly blew the engine in his No. 18 Toyota while celebrating.
He took the checkered flag from the flag stand and kneeled on the track, giving the pavement an Indy-style kiss. A wrecker had to give Busch a push start so he could drive to Victory Lane at this 1.5-mile track’s Neon Garage.
“This is pretty cool,” Busch said once there. “I didn’t know exactly what it would mean, but coming to the checkered flag, there were knots in my stomach. It’s as big as the Daytona 500. I said it wouldn’t be, but it is.”
Kyle’s family, including his older brother Kurt, joined him for an emotional celebration. Kyle had won the pole Friday, but he’d blown an engine during the first practice so he had to start at the rear of the field Sunday.
“We just had to battle back,” Busch said. “We didn’t have the best car out there today, but we just kept working on it and making it better.”
Carl Edwards lost an engine on the final two laps and fell out, handing that position to David Reutimann, for whom fourth was a career-best finish. Bobby Labonte wound up fifth.
The action started early, and the day’s first victim was Matt Kenseth, who was trying to make history with an unprecedented third straight win to open the season.
Kenseth, though, didn’t make a lap before he knew he had a problem. He got a chance to come to pit road under an early caution for Brad Keselowski’s spin, but as the green flew again on Lap 7 his No. 17 Ford began smoking as the engine let go.
“It’s really disappointing, but I think it’s the first failure we’ve had in more than two years,” Kenseth said. “We really didn’t even get to race.”
Jimmie Johnson broke to the lead at the start of the race and stayed there, but Edwards was making an early move. By Lap 43, Edwards had the No. 99 Ford all the way up to second.
Johnson made his first pit stop under green on Lap 51. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who came in a lap before Johnson, drew a penalty for speeding as he came onto the pit lane that dropped him a lap down. Regan Smith also got a speeding penalty on that round of stops.
Johnson was the leader again by Lap 57 with Edwards, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick giving chase. But debris on the track brought out the yellow on Lap 61.
David Ragan became the second Roush Fenway Racing driver to have an engine problem when his car went up in smoke on Lap 74. That brought out a yellow and sent the leaders down pit road.