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Kurt Busch beats little brother to win Kentucky

PHOTOS: NASCAR Weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway | 2018
Posted at 7:39 AM, Jul 14, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-14 10:39:36-04

SPARTA, Ky. (AP) — The Latest on Saturday night's NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway (all times local):

10:45 p.m.

Kurt Busch earned his first win of the season by outracing his younger brother in overtime in a door-to-door to the Kentucky Speedway finish line.

The victory comes a week after Busch lost at Daytona because he pitted from the lead moments before weather stopped the race. That pit call has haunted Busch and his Chip Ganassi Racing team all week, but it was a call for four tires late in the race that gave Busch a shot at racing for the win.

Joey Logano had the victory in hand until a spin by Bubba Wallace with six laps remaining sent the race into overtime.

Logano and Kyle Busch lined up side-by-side on the restart for what was expected to be a race for the victory, but both Erik Jones and Kurt Busch shoved their cars into the mix for an intense final two laps. Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch touched as they raced for the lead, both cars wiggled, and it appeared Kurt Busch was headed into the wall. But he recovered to squeeze past his brother right before the checkered flag.

The Busch Brothers finished 1-2, but it was the first win of the year for Kurt Busch and his new Ganassi team.

The victory is the third straight of the season for Chevrolet and first in nine races at Kentucky. It ended a two-race winning streak for Martin Truex Jr. and Toyota.

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9:33 p.m.

Kyle Busch has won the second stage of the NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway to make it a Busch Brothers event so far.

Kurt Busch won the first stage.

But the second stage went to his younger brother, who earned his sixth stage win this season in the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch built a lead of more than eight seconds at one point.

Busch is chasing his third Kentucky win.

Erik Jones was next second in another JGR Toyota, while Austin Dillon finished the stage in third in a Chevrolet. Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top five in Fords.

Daniel Suarez's race continued to fall apart when the pole-sitter was penalized for speeding on pit road. Suarez started the race seeking his first Cup victory of his career.

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8:45 p.m.

Kurt Busch has earned his first NASCAR stage win of the season by winning the first 80-lap segment of the Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway.

It is the first stage victory for Busch since he joined Chip Ganassi Racing earlier this year, and the first for the No. 1 Chevrolet.

Busch started fourth and passed Brad Keselowski after a restart, then outdueled Keselowski and his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano until the end of the stage.

Logano was second with two-time race winner Kyle Busch third. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin was fourth and Aric Almirola was fifth.

Pole sitter Daniel Suarez led the first 49 laps before dropping back to 14th after a poor pit call to take four tires during an early stop. Almost every other team either changed two tires, or took fuel only.

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7:30 p.m.

Ryan Newman and Quin Houff both failed pre-race inspection and will drop to the back of the field for Saturday night's NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway.

Newman had qualified 23rd but will drop to 35th at the start in his Ford for Roush Fenway Racing.

Houff had qualified 35th so failing inspection only dropped the Spire Motorsports team one spot in the starting lineup. Spire last week snagged an upset victory at Daytona with Justin Haley driving when Haley inherited the lead moments before inclement weather stopped the race.

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2 p.m.

Daniel Suarez and Aric Almirola have passed pre-race inspection and will give Stewart-Haas Racing the front row at the start of Saturday night's event at Kentucky Speedway.

The two Ford drivers posted the fastest laps in qualifying but NASCAR held a pre-race inspection to finalize the field. Stewart-Haas Racing is winless so far this season, but Suarez is aiming to become NASCAR's third consecutive first-time Cup winner. Alex Bowman knocked down his first victory two weeks ago at Chicago, and Justin Haley won Daytona on Sunday.

Martin Truex Jr. is the two-time defending race winner at Kentucky, where Toyota drivers have won five of the eight Cup races at the track.

Ford drivers have won twice at Kentucky and have five entries starting in the top seven Saturday night.

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