It was Busch brother vs. Busch brother for the win in Sunday’s Food City 500. Combined, they had won the last three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races on the .533-mile Bristol (Tenn) Motor Speedway oval and 13 overall.

But, who would win?

Kyle Busch bested brother Kurt Busch for his eighth career Cup Series victory at Bristol on Sunday en route to his third win in eight tries this season.

Busch, inherited the lead for the final time on Lap 482 and would lead the final 19 laps in his No. 18 Toyota. It capped a wild day of action at Bristol with it all starting in a Lap 2 crash that Busch was involved in.

His Skittles Toyota was damaged in the back but it didn’t stop him from fighting back through the field and taking the lead for the first time of the day on Lap 384. He’d lead 71 of the final 119 laps and looks like the championship favorite going forward.

The win was also Busch’s third in his last four Bristol starts and his sixth top three finish in eight races in 2019.

Kurt Busch finished runner-up in his No. 1 Chevrolet for his third top five finish in his last four Bristol starts. He said after the race that he would have used his bumper if needed to move his younger brother out of the way for the win. See, Busch see his brother win all the time and knew that Kyle had two wins already in 2019. The elder Busch needed a win to make himself playoff eligible. That would have been huge to get that comfort this early in the season.

But, Busch couldn’t catch him and had to settle for his sixth top 10 finish of 2019 already.

Joey Logano would finish third in his No. 22 Ford for his eighth top 10 finish in his last 10 starts at Bristol and fourth top five of the season. He led 146 laps on Sunday.

Logano’s Team Penske teammate of Ryan Blaney finished one spot behind in fourth in his No. 12 Ford after leading a race high 158 of 500 laps. It was the third straight race at Bristol that Blaney led over 100 laps on this track but Sunday was his first top five finish of his career on the concrete oval.

Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five in his No. 11 Toyota for his third straight top five finish on the season and fourth in the last five races. It was also his third top five finish in his last six Bristol starts.

Here are my main takeaways.

Penske’s Pit Call Hurt Them In The End

There’s no doubt about it, Team Penske had the best cars on Sunday. Combined, they led 344 of the 500 laps. But, when they all gave up top five spots in the end to pit for new tires, it proved to be the wrong call.

Brad Keselowski didn’t line up right and would get penalized. He’d finish 18th for his seventh straight race at Bristol of a finish outside of the top 15. His last top 10 finish was in 2015. His last top five was 2014.

Logano, tried to make his way through but he didn’t have enough time. He’d finish third.

Blaney, was strong but also didn’t have enough time either. He’d finish fourth.

It was a strong day of speed, but not the finishes they deserved.

JGR/Penske/SHR Dominance Continued

Combined, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske have won all eight races this season. If you go back to last year, they won the final two races as well. They’re the teams to beat in NASCAR right now.

But, if you throw Stewart-Haas Racing in there too, then there’s no one better. Between these 11 drivers, good luck beating them.

On Sunday, they led all but 45 laps in a 500 lap race. They took six of the top eight finishing positions.

With heading to a strong track of theirs next weekend in Richmond, I don’t see how this streak ends before the Easter break.

Hendrick Motorsports Coming, But Not Quite There Yet

If you look at the final finishing positions, you may see Hendrick finishing 10-11-16-23. While that’s still not great, it’s on the right track.

Listen, they have nothing for JGR/SHR/Penske right now. But, no one does. If you want to look for a team next best, other than Kurt Busch (Ganassi) it’s them.

Chase Elliott has finished in the top 13 in the last four weeks. He didn’t have any power steering all day and was involved in several on track incidents but still finished 11th.

Jimmie Johnson earned a 10th place finish and now has two straight on the year and three in the last five weeks.

William Byron and Alex Bowman still have some work to do, but Johnson and Elliott are starting to find their grooves.

Bowyer/Suarez Continue Hot Streaks

It looks like Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez are going to win soon. They were strong again on Sunday with Clint Bowyer leading 24 laps in a seventh place effort while Daniel Suarez brought his No. 41 Ford home eighth.

For Bowyer, it was his sixth top eight finish in his last eight Bristol starts. It was also his third straight top seven finish on the season.

For Suarez, he now has three straight top 10 finishes and is looking like the driver JGR had hopes that he’d be.

With another strong track for them coming up, look for another strong run for both next weekend.

Kyle Larson’s Struggles Continue

If Larson was going to come out of his slump, this race would have been it. Coming into this weekend, Larson finished runner-up in both races last year at Bristol and has led over 200 laps in each of his last two spring race starts on this very same race track. But, he never was a factor this weekend.

Larson, brought his No. 42 Chevrolet home 19th. It was his third straight week with a finish of 18th or worse and the sixth time in the last seven races that he failed to score a top 10.

Larson, who’s day started off with an unscheduled pit stop and an uncontrolled tire on it, was involved in a couple of incidents later on too.