Kyle Busch Locks In Spot For Championship Race

Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway needed overtime to decide.  It went five extra laps and on the final lap Kyle Busch held off Martin Truex, Jr. to win for the second time, fifth time this season and his 43rd career win.  It guarantees him a spot among four drivers in the championship race at Homestead-Miami on November 19th.

As the drivers got closer to the finish any number of them could have won it.  First it looked like Brad Keselowski would win.  There were 10 laps left, but a caution forced a restart.  Chase Elliott took the lead on the restart but Denny Hamlin bumped him into the wall forcing yet another restart and extending the race to extra laps.

On that final restart Hamlin had the lead until Busch got the edge and passed him and had just enough to beat Truex by just .141 seconds.  Clint Bowyer was third with Keselowski and Denny Hamlin completing the Top 5.  But as Busch and Truex  crossed the finish line at least a dozen cars behind them were involved in a massive pileup on the front stretch.

Truex continues to lead Busch in the standings followed by Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson.  Next on the schedule is Texas Motor Speedway next Sunday.