Atlanta NASCAR: Kyle Busch takes victory

The Joe Gibbs Toyota driver emerged in the lead during the final pitstops and was able to control the closing stages. The win puts Busch's place in this year's Chase beyond doubt.

His erstwhile team-mate Joey Logano made progress through the field during the final stint to take second for Penske, having earlier lost ground with an out-of-sequence pitstop, but Busch remained seven tenths of a second clear up front.

Logano's final pass was on Martin Truex Jr, who coped with both a fractured wrist and a melting support cast on his hand to take third in his Waltrip Toyota.

Both Buschs were in the top four, with Kurt recovering from 32nd on the grid to fourth for Furniture Row, helped in large part by an astounding restart in which he made up eight positions to appear in second place.

Juan Pablo Montoya led much of the first part of the race, but faded to seventh in the end.

His fall was not as great as Carl Edwards' - the Roush Fenway man looking dominant at times early on only to slump to 18th, unable to regain the ground lost when he stayed on old tyres as most around him took fresh rubber mid-race.

Reigning champion Brad Keselowski's bid to at least be in contention for a second title struck another blow when his Penske Ford ran into engine problems while he was leading.

He was eventually classified 35th, leaving him 15th in the points with just Richmond next week remaining before the Chase cut-off.

Championship leader Jimmie Johnson also had a bad night, getting involved in two collisions and finishing four laps down in 28th.

At one stage he looked set to finally lose the lead in the standings, but was granted a reprieve when nearest rival Clint Bowyer had an engine failure when running in a position to jump to the top of the championship.

Polesitter Ricky Stenhouse Jr immediately slumped down the order when the race began and finished 16th.

Results - 325 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota             3h42m14.000s
 2.  Joey Logano         Penske Ford                       +0.740s
 3.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                    +1.840s
 4.  Kurt Busch          Furniture Row Chevrolet           +3.622s
 5.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet            +4.137s
 6.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet                +6.658s
 7.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet       +8.056s
 8.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet                +8.690s
 9.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet               +8.907s
10.  Brian Vickers       Waltrip Toyota                    +9.516s
11.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet      +10.462s
12.  Matt Kenseth        Joe Gibbs Toyota                 +10.988s
13.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                       +11.103s
14.  AJ Allmendinger     JTG Daugherty Toyota             +11.606s
15.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford                +11.852s
16.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford                +12.780s
17.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   +13.822s
18.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford                  +1 lap
19.  Austin Dillon       Childress Chevrolet                +1 lap
20.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                        +2 laps
21.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet            +2 laps
22.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                      +2 laps
23.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                    +2 laps
24.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet               +3 laps
25.  Mark Martin         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet            +3 laps
26.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet                 +3 laps
27.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                         +3 laps
28.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet                +4 laps
29.  David Stremme       Swan Toyota                       +4 laps
30.  JJ Yeley            Baldwin Chevrolet                 +4 laps
31.  Timmy Hill          FAS Lane Ford                     +4 laps
32.  David Reutimann     BK Toyota                         +5 laps
33.  Mike Bliss          Phoenix Chevrolet                 +6 laps
34.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet               +6 laps

Retirements:

     Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford                      307 laps
     Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet              292 laps*
     Landon Cassill      Hillman Chevrolet                249 laps
     Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota                 231 laps
     Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                   192 laps
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                     114 laps
     Jose Wise           Front Row Ford                    94 laps
     Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                      92 laps
     Scott Speed         Leavine Ford                      22 laps

* Running again at chequered flag