Kyle Busch takes Michigan 400

Kyle Busch hits the finish line ahead of Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski.
Kyle Busch hits the finish line ahead of Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski. (JAMIE SQUIRE / Getty Images)
Associated Press
Posted: August 22, 2011

BROOKLYN, Mich. - Kyle Busch won his fourth Sprint Cup race of the year, outlasting Jimmie Johnson in a green-white-checkered finish at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.

Busch, the series points leader coming into the race, passed Johnson with about a dozen laps remaining and was opening up a comfortable margin when brother Kurt Busch scraped a wall, forcing a caution from laps 198 to 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 and pull away.

Brad Keselowski finished third, his third consecutive top-three finish and fifth top-10 in his last six races. Mark Martin was fourth.

It was the 23d Sprint Cup win of Busch's career - and first at Michigan.

Pole-sitter Greg Biffle led for 86 of the first 100 laps, but it didn't last. Busch passed him around the midway point of the planned 200-lap, 400-mile race. Jeff Gordon took the lead not long after that, and Johnson appeared to be in great shape when he made a pit stop just before a caution that started on Lap 169.

Johnson was able to stay out on the track while other cars made pit stops under the yellow flag, and he led on the restart.

But Busch was lurking back in third place in his No. 18 Toyota and eventually passed Johnson. Busch also has three straight top-three showings. He was second to Keselowski at Pocono and third at Watkins Glen.

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