Kyle Busch held off teammate Jeff Gordon on a restart, then beat Jeff Burton in a drag race to the finish line to win the first Car of Tomorrow race Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Busch took the lead with 16 laps to go on a smooth pass around Denny Hamlin in thick traffic and stayed there through a pair of cautions. Busch had driven away from the competition when the 15th and final caution set up overtime.

With Busch and Gordon running 1-2 at the restart, the two plotted their own strategy with their respective crew chiefs.

“Well, good job guys,” Busch sighed at the final caution. “We’ll do what we can. I can’t promise you anything.”

“He’ll be nice,” crew chief Alan Gustafson said. “He’ll play nice.”

It didn’t sound that way on Gordon’s channel.

“Tell that 5, if I get a fender underneath him, he better think about the fact that we’re teammates,” Gordon said. “If I don’t get a fender underneath him, I won’t move him out of the way.”

It never mattered, though, as Burton jumped past Gordon on the restart and quickly pulled onto Busch’s rear bumper. Burton looked low and Busch threw a block, then he went high and Busch blocked that, too.

Burton finally pulled alongside Busch as they closed in on the finish line, but Busch nipped him at the flag for his first Nextel Cup victory on a short track.

Both drivers could have spun Busch to get past him, and the 21 year old appreciated the veterans for racing him clean.

“Without Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton behind me, I never would have won this race,” Busch said.

Burton owed it to Busch, especially after their stirring finish two weeks ago in Las Vegas. The two were battling for the win in the closing laps and Busch could have wrecked Burton to get it.

But Busch kept it clean, ultimately losing the fight as the cars touched and Busch spun backward across the finish line — just a tick behind Burton.

“I could have used the bumper to move him out of the way and win the race, but I didn’t want to,” Burton said. “I can lay in bed tonight and wonder ‘What if?’ but that’s what I chose to do. If you can’t pass him without knocking him out of the way, do the best you can. He’s driven me clean, and that’s what I did with him.”

Gordon, the polesitter, wound up third and was thrilled with the effort after struggling for most of the race.

“We struggled yesterday in practice and we fought really hard today,” Gordon said. “We’re fortunate. We stayed on the lead lap. I’m really happy for Kyle.”

source: USA Today

RESULTS:

Pos, St, #, Driver, Sponsor, Car, Pts, Status, Laps

1 20 5 Kyle Busch Carquest Chevrolet 190 Running 504
2 29 31 Jeff Burton Cingular Wireless Chevrolet 170 Running 504
3 1 24 Jeff Gordon Dupont Chevrolet 170 Running 504
4 40 29 Kevin Harvick Shell Chevrolet 165 Running 504
5 11 16 Greg Biffle Jackson Hewitt Ford 155 Running 504
6 9 66 Jeff Green Best Buy Chevrolet 150 Running 504
7 31 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Chevrolet 146 Running 504
8 18 07 Clint Bowyer Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet 142 Running 504
9 5 26 Jamie McMurray Crown Royal Ford 138 Running 504
10 16 25 Casey Mears GMAC Chevrolet 134 Running 504
11 38 17 Matt Kenseth Arby’s Ford 130 Running 504
12 32 99 Carl Edwards Office Depot Ford 127 Running 504
13 33 40 David Stremme Energizer Dodge 124 Running 504
14 10 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Chevrolet 126 Running 504
15 25 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 123 Running 504
16 6 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 115 503
17 19 49 Mike Bliss obovo.com Dodge 112 Running 503
18 14 4 Ward Burton State Water Heaters Chevrolet 109 Running 502
19 2 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 106 Running 501
20 26 45 Kyle Petty Marathon Oil Dodge 103 Running 501
21 27 78 Kenny Wallace Furniture Row Chevrolet 100 Running 501
22 28 43 Bobby Labonte Cheerios Dodge 97 Running 501
23 7 22 Dave Blaney Caterpillar Toyota 94 Running 501
24 17 96 Tony Raines DLP HDTV Chevrolet 91 Running 501
25 12 01 Regan Smith U.S. Army Chevrolet 88 Running 501
26 41 6 David Ragan AAA Ford 85 Running 501
27 3 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 87 Running 500
28 15 21 Ken Schrader Little Debbie Snack Cakes Ford 79 Running 500
29 42 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 81 Running 499
30 21 14 Sterling Marlin Waste Management Chevrolet 73 Running 499
31 8 10 Scott Riggs Valvoline Dodge 70 Running 498
32 36 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Texaco/Havoline Dodge 67 Running 497
33 34 7 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Off Road Ford 64 Running 493
34 23 36 Jeremy Mayfield 360 OTC Toyota 66 Running 486
35 4 20 Tony Stewart The Home Depot Chevrolet 68 Running 479
36 37 18 J.J. Yeley Interstate Batteries Chevrolet 60 Running 475
37 13 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 52 Running 475
38 24 88 Ricky Rudd Pedigree Ford 49 Running 454
39 22 12 Ryan Newman Alltel Dodge 46 Out 450
40 43 84 AJ Allmendinger Red Bull Toyota 43 Running 413
41 35 38 David Gilliland M&M’s Ford 40 Accident 49
42 30 44 Dale Jarrett UPS Toyota 37 Accident 43
43 39 41 Reed Sorenson Target Dodge 34 Accident 22

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