Kyle Busch won his second consecutive spring race at Richmond International Raceway Saturday night!

photo credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

Busch dominated the first half of the race, but dropped back through the field after experiencing handling issues. Still, Busch found his way back to the front at the right time -- taking the lead back from Jeff Gordon after the final restart with 5 to go.

“For some reason, we missed the handle on the car there in the middle of the race,” Busch said. “The car was phenomenal in the beginning. We were making minor changes to it to make it a little bit better. There about lap 170, 200, we started falling behind on the long runs, getting really loose.  We kept plugging away. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) never gave up. These guys on pit road kept putting in some really good pit stops. I kept driving what I had. I couldn’t make much out of what was going on out there on the track, especially with traffic. But we made some changes back to the car to get it going a little bit better. Especially at the end of the race when Dave (Rogers, crew chief) made the call to come to pit road and put tires on with 25 or 30 to go, something like that, we just got going on restarts there. I think there was a lot of ‘em. One of the winning passes was on Harvick, getting to the bottom on turn one, forcing my issue to the bottom line, then having a caution come out, getting to the outside of Jeff Gordon, just being able to get up on his outside, run him hard on that last restart there.”

Busch led 226 of 400 laps, while Gordon led 144 laps.

“Unfortunately, those cautions came out (at the end),” Gordon said. “I got two good restarts. Then, you know, the guy I did not want to have to race on the restarts, who was unbelievable on restarts earlier in the day, was Kyle. When I went, he timed it perfect, got to my outside. I was a little bit loose. We weren’t that good on restarts anyway. He just smoked us. So, you know, it was still a great finish. Great run for us. After the last couple weeks, we certainly needed this. We keep running like this, I think the wins will come.”

Kevin Harvick finished third and took the points lead back over. “It was a solid night for us,” Harvick said. “We were right in the middle of the top five all night, which is where you got to be to have a chance. We had a chance there at the end. 18, he could run the outside where none of the rest of us could. He could carry that momentum. Had a couple lap fresher tires than we all did and was able to really make the move on the outside, make it stick. But all in all, it was a solid night and we’ll take it.”

Harvick now leads the point standings by 10 points over 2nd place driver, Jimmie Johnson. Johnson finished Saturday night’s race 10th, but wrecked after crossing the finish line.

Harvick’s RCR teammate, Jeff Burton, finished fourth followed by Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman and Marcos Ambrose.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 6 cautions for 37 laps and 12 lead changes among 8 drivers: Kyle Busch 1-140; J. Gordon 141-144; Kyle Busch 145-172; R. Newman 173-176; Kyle Busch 177-229; J. Burton 230-249; J. Gordon 250-266; K. Harvick 267; M. Truex Jr. 268; C. Edwards 269-270; T. Stewart 271-272; J. Gordon 273-395; Kyle Busch 396-400

More night racin’ is on the Sprint Cup Series schedule! Next up, Darlington this Saturday night.