Kurt Busch Muscles His Way to Stage 1 Win in Southern 500 at Darlington

Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is painted to look like a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, and through the first Stage of Sunday’s Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington, Busch looks like he has quite the muscle car under him.

Busch led 72 of the first 100 laps after starting fourth.

Jimmie Johnson, who has had a rough season and is looking to work his way into Playoff contention, had a great opening Stage and finished second. He captured a lot of crucial Stage points as a result.

Kyle Larson finished the Stage in third.

Kyle Busch, who had an abysmal qualifying run, and then started in the rear after his team changed just about every component on his No. 18 car before the race on Sunday, has rebounded to fourth at the conclusion of Stage 1. It looks like his Snickers Toyota Camry is quite sporty.

Denny Hamlin, who won then was disqualified from Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, ended the Stage in fifth.

Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones rounded out the top-10 finishers in Stage 1 at Darlington.

Pole sitter William Byron failed to lead a lap in the opening Stage, but he had a car that looked really good. However, a slow pit stop near the end of the Stage dropped him from second-place. Byron would end the Stage in 11th.