TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kyle Busch fell a lap down midway through the race, and after racing his way back into contention, needed an awesome save to keep himself from triggering a massive crash.
Only this time, the crash happened behind Busch, and instead of leaving Talladega Superspeedway with a smashed-up car, he drove into Victory Lane on Sunday.
“I’d like to say that I’m smarter than I look, but that’s certainly not the case,” Busch said. “Today was just due to having a great car. . . . I don’t think I’ve ever finished one here yet without some sort of damage. We still had damage, but it wasn’t enough to keep us from Victory Lane.”
Busch had his big comeback, then survived a near wreck with Jamie McMurray for his first win at Talladega. It was won under caution when a 12-car accident brought out the yellow flag on the final lap, freezing the field and allowing Busch to slowly make his way across the finish line.
In six previous Cup races, Busch failed to finish four times and wrecked out of both events last season.
Juan Pablo Montoya finished second to match his career best on an oval since moving to NASCAR midway through 2006. He also was second at Indy in July.
Despite leading a race-high 61 laps, Tony Stewart dropped to 0-for-20 in Talladega Cup races after getting caught in a six-car pileup. He placed 38th.
