Kyle Busch has taken his third straight win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with victory at Richmond Raceway.
The #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver came from 32nd on the starting grid and only led for the first time on Lap 371 of the scheduled 400, before winning by 0.511s in an overtime finish.
Chase Elliott (#9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) made a late move to take second, ahead of Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota).
Kyle Busch gambled and lost trying to save tyres during qualifying, not advancing past the first round, but had climbed a dozen position into the top 20 in the first dozen laps.
He moved into the top 10 on Lap 35 and ultimately finished the first 100-lap stage in sixth position.
Car #18 ran as high as second during Stage 2 before also finishing that segment of the race in sixth.
Kyle Busch sat fourth with 50 laps remaining before the first of four Cautions for incidents, when Ryan Blaney (#12 Team Penske Ford), Ricky Stenhouse Jnr (#17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford), and Cole Whitt (#72 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet) came together.
The series leader was third out of pit lane and passed Kevin Harvick (#4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) just after the restart.
Jamie McMurray (#1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) hit the wall and was collected by Ryan Newman (#31 Richard Childress Racing Cevrolet) with 33 laps to go, triggering the Caution which saw Kyle Busch take the lead off pit lane.
He navigated two more Cautions, the latter of which made for an overtime finish after 402 laps, to take a third win of the season.
Elliott slipped by Hamlin after the final Caution, brought about when Stenhouse Jnr found the wall, to finish runner-up.
Joey Logano (#22 Team Penske Ford) won both of the first two stages on his way to fourth, from Harvick, Jimmie Johnson (#48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet), Kyle Larson (#42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet), Brad Keselowski (#2 Team Penske Ford), Clint Bowyer (#14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford), and Daniel Suarez (#19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota).
The series continues with Round 10, the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, on April 27-29 (local time).
Race highlights
Results: Toyota Owners 400, Richmond Raceway
| Pos | Num | Driver | Make | Laps | Led | Status |
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 402 | 32 | Running |
| 2 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 402 | 6 | Running |
| 4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 402 | 92 | Running |
| 5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 402 | 8 | Running |
| 6 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 7 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 9 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 402 | 45 | Running |
| 10 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 11 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 402 | 98 | Running |
| 12 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 13 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 14 | 78 | Martin Truex Jnr | Toyota | 402 | 121 | Running |
| 15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 16 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 17 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 18 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 19 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 20 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 21 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 22 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 23 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jnr | Ford | 402 | 0 | Running |
| 24 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 401 | 0 | Running |
| 25 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jnr | Chevrolet | 401 | 0 | Running |
| 26 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 401 | 0 | Running |
| 27 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 401 | 0 | Running |
| 28 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 401 | 0 | Running |
| 29 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Running |
| 30 | 72 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Running |
| 31 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 400 | 0 | Running |
| 32 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 399 | 0 | Running |
| 33 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 399 | 0 | Running |
| 34 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 397 | 0 | Running |
| 35 | 23 | Gray Gaulding | Toyota | 393 | 0 | Running |
| 36 | 51 | Harrison Rhodes | Chevrolet | 386 | 0 | Running |
| 37 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 368 | 0 | Crash |
| 38 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 188 | 0 | Electrical |
Standings
| Pos | Driver | Pts | Gap | Starts | Wins | Pl’off pts |
| 1 | Kyle Busch | 415 | 9 | 3 | 17 | |
| 2 | Joey Logano | 359 | -56 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Clint Bowyer | 329 | -86 | 9 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | Kevin Harvick | 324 | -91 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| 5 | Brad Keselowski | 303 | -112 | 9 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Denny Hamlin | 286 | -129 | 9 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Martin Truex Jnr | 284 | -131 | 9 | 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Ryan Blaney | 282 | -133 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Kurt Busch | 282 | -133 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Kyle Larson | 279 | -136 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Aric Almirola | 248 | -167 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Erik Jones | 233 | -182 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Alex Bowman | 209 | -206 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Austin Dillon | 208 | -207 | 9 | 1 | 5 |
| 15 | Jimmie Johnson | 200 | -215 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | William Byron | 192 | -223 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Ryan Newman | 186 | -229 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Paul Menard | 183 | -232 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Ricky Stenhouse Jnr | 176 | -239 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Chase Elliott | 175 | -240 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Daniel Suarez | 161 | -254 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Darrell Wallace Jnr | 160 | -255 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | AJ Allmendinger | 160 | -255 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Jamie McMurray | 158 | -257 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Chris Buescher | 130 | -285 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | Trevor Bayne | 126 | -289 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Michael McDowell | 121 | -294 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | David Ragan | 121 | -294 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Ty Dillon | 112 | -303 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Matt DiBenedetto | 112 | -303 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | Kasey Kahne | 109 | -306 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Cole Whitt | 62 | -353 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Gray Gaulding | 56 | -359 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | DJ Kennington | 38 | -377 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Landon Cassill | 37 | -378 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | 28 | -387 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Harrison Rhodes | 23 | -392 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Mark Thompson | 15 | -400 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Reed Sorenson | 15 | -400 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Corey LaJoie | 14 | -401 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | Brendan Gaughan | 9 | -406 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Danica Patrick | 2 | -413 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | Justin Marks | 0 | -415 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | David Gilliland | 0 | -415 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Ross Chastain | 0 | -415 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Cole Custer | 0 | -415 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | JJ Yeley | 0 | -415 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | Joey Gase | 0 | -415 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | Daniel Hemric | 0 | -415 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | Timmy Hill | 0 | -415 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 | Chad Finchum | 0 | -415 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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