Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch battled it out until the very end of Saturday's Quaker State 400 race at Kentucky Speedway, with the elder brother winning and earning his 31st win in the Cup Series.
Kyle was supportive of Kurt after the race, though he admitted, "We were on the wrong end of the deal."
"It was a thriller," Kyle said. "It's obviously cool to put on great races and great finishes, and I've been a part of a lot of them and not very many — in fact none — with my brother like that. And so that was a first."
The race came down to the final two laps after a caution gave them overtime laps. It appeared Kyle had the advantage, but Kurt held on and took the lead going into Turn 1 on the last lap. They dueled it out right next to each other as Kurt just barely edged out Kyle to give Chevrolet its first Cup Series win at Kentucky.
"No hard feelings, and we move on," Kyle said.
WHAT A FINISH!@KurtBusch holds off @KyleBusch to WIN at @KYSpeedway! #QS400 pic.twitter.com/0kbLBJUxMA
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 14, 2019
After the race, Kurt explained what was going through his mind during the final few laps as he wanted to defeat his brother.
“What a battle with my little brother. To race him side-by-side, try to play the chess game at 180 mph in the side draft,” Kurt said (via USA Today). “As we drove down into Turn 3 on the last lap, I just stared straight at the No. 18 on his door and I never lifted until I heard him lift and then I was like ‘wait a minute, I still gotta miss the wall’ and he gave me just enough room as a true racer would.”
The only downside for Kurt was the fact that his brother didn't wait to give him a ride home back to North Carolina, like he initially promised.
"I was supposed to fly home with him and now I'm looking for a plane ride," Kurt laughed (per ESPN). "That's Kyle. He won't even wait."