Kyle Busch survived several late race cautions and Mark Martin on his bumper to win Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway!

Busch took the lead for the first time on lap 433 and led the final 68 laps. There were 5 cautions during those final laps in which he had to hold off Mark Martin on each restart. As the Chase deadline gets closer, obviously Busch’s ultimate goal is to make it into the top-12 to be able to compete for the championship.

“I hope this just isn’t a fluke to get in the Chase,” Busch said. “We need to run well at Atlanta and Richmond.”

(Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Mark Martin, who made his 1,000th NASCAR start, started from the pole and led a race-high 240 of 500 laps. He was side by side with Busch as the laps ticked down, but raced him cleanly. “Anyone who thinks I was soft out there on the race track wasn’t watching,” Martin said. “I raced my guts out.”

“Mark Martin, what a class act. He deserved to win this race,” Busch said during the victory lane celebration. “I’m sorry he got second. I know how he feels. But man, I drove as hard as I could. He had a chance, could have done it, he raced me clean.”

It was Kyle’s first win since Las Vegas, breaking a 13 race winless streak. Busch moved up two spots to 13th in the point standings, 34 points out of 12th. The top-12 drivers in the standings after two more races will get to compete in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Points leader Tony Stewart had an off night right from the drop of the green flag. He experienced radio problems and couldn’t communicate with his team before having power issues with his #14 ride. Stewart finished 33rd, 11 laps down.

Jeff Gordon also struggled throughout the night and logged a 23rd place finish. Jimmie Johnson led three times for 107 laps, but had to make a late race pit stop for a loose wheel which dropped him deeper in the field. He made up some ground and was able to pull off an 8th place finish.

Marcos Ambrose finished 3rd followed by Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth rounding out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here.

There were 11 cautions for 76 laps and 12 lead changes among 5 drivers: M. Martin 0; G. Biffle 1-65; M. Martin 66; G. Biffle 67-77; M. Martin 78-272; J. Johnson 273-274; M. Martin 275-316; J. Johnson 317-356; M. Martin 357; J. Johnson 358-422; M. Martin 423; M. Waltrip 424-432; Kyle Busch 433-500

For the 4th week in a row, rain fell at the race track. Although there were 2 cautions for rain, they were able to get all of the race in as a storm cell appeared to be moving into the area.

It’s another off-weekend next weekend before the series resumes in Atlanta for the second to last race before the Chase begins.