The Busch brothers were both winners on Friday night. Â Kurt Busch prevailed in a last lap side-by-side battle with Denny Hamlin to win the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway. Â In the process, Kurt made his younger brother Kyle a first-time winning car owner in the Nationwide Series. Â Read more after the jump.
Kyle Busch began fielding a fulltime Nationwide team for the first time this season.
“To get Kyle Busch Motorsports its first win is so awesome,†Kurt Busch said. “When you’re driving for a guy named Busch, you’ve got to be on it.
“This was an unbelievable race.â€
Hamlin was an unexpected contender at the finish. Early in the race, he drove past his pit stall during pit stops and had to restart as the last car on the lead lap.
Just over 60 laps later, Hamlin found himself back in the top three with a chance to win the race.
With three laps remaining, both Kurt Busch and Hamlin had cleared most of the lapped traffic, allowing them to race alone for the win. Hamlin got side-by-side with Busch on the last lap and the cars made contact coming off Turn 4, but Busch crossed the finish line first.
“I’d come from too far back to try to get (the win) with a cheap shot at the end. I felt if I was going to win it, I was going to do it fair,†Hamlin said.
“I don’t know if there was anything else I could have tried to win.â€
Kevin Harvick finished third, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth and Sam Hornish Jr. was fifth. Series points leader Elliott Sadler was sixth.
