(Kurt Busch celebrates in Victory Lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway) https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/1414386956151267330?s=20
Kurt Busch edged little brother Kyle Busch for his first win of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In a tight battle of back and forth and a little bit of "shake and bake" with teammate Ross Chastain in the closing laps, the Chip Ganassi driver would finish first in a 1-2 finish over his brother Kyle for the first time since Kentucky in 2019.
Chase Elliott would start on the pole with Kyle Busch in second, it would only take fourteen laps for Ky. Busch to assume the lead over Elliott. A multi-car wreck would take place involving Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Cody Ware almost halfway through stage one. The 18 car of Busch would be the winner of stage one with older brother Kurt right behind him.
Elliott would experience difficulties on pit road as he would fall back in the field after miss judging the pit box and sliding over the line being forced to back up in stage one and in stage two under caution, the 9 car of Elliott would hit a tire from Cole Custer mid stop that would hit Custer's tire changer. Thankfully he was uninjured and was able to finish the remaining stops throughout the day.
On the flip side from stage one, Kurt Busch would pick up the stage win with Kyle finishing in second.
Shortly after the start of the final stage at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a pothole would form on the front stretch as pieces of asphalt would break apart bringing out the caution. A crazy restart ensued with 90 laps remaining as drivers going three and four wide jockeying for position, after spreading out over several laps, it was down to the Busch brothers battling it out each lap for the lead.
With a little bit of help from teammate Ross Chastain, Kurt Busch was able to stay ahead of baby brother Kyle to win his 33rd career victory at the final race of the current configuration of the speedway before a repave and reconfiguration would start a few days after.
The win ties Fireball Roberts for 25th on the all time wins list.
Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart Top 5:
1. Kurt Busch
2. Kyle Busch
3. Martin Truex Jr
4. Alex Bowman
5. Ryan Blaney
Honourable Mentions:
6. Tyler Reddick
9. Matt Dibenedetto
12. Austin Dillon
14. Bubba Wallace
Written By: Matt Marr