Busch outlasts Johnson for win
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Kyle Busch held off Jimmie Johnson — for the time being, at least.
Busch outlasted Johnson to win Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway, pulling away after a late caution for his fourth victory of the season.
The win gave Busch a 10-point lead over Johnson at the top of the points standings, but there are still three more races before the Chase for the Sprint Cup starts.
Johnson is the five-time defending champion on NASCAR’s top circuit, and Busch is merely the latest driver who seems poised to challenge him.
“Certainly it’s going to be a run down to the end,” Busch said. “The points are tight. With any bad day it seems to hurt you so much, you really have to concentrate on battling back, getting yourself back up in the points.”
Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick pushed Johnson to the limit last year, but fell short in the end. Now Busch has his sights on the championship, and although there’s plenty of racing still to come, he aced Sunday’s test in what became a head-to-head dash to the finish with the man everyone is trying to wrest the title from.
Busch passed Johnson with about a dozen laps remaining and was opening up a comfortable margin when his brother Kurt Busch scraped a wall, forcing a caution from laps 198-201. The yellow flag erased much of Kyle Busch’s lead, but he was able to fight off a quick move from Johnson after the restart, then held on to win during the green-white-checkered finish.
