JOLIET, Ill. - Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson raced all over the track during an electric final lap Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. As Busch began to celebrate his dramatic victory, Larson gave him a thumb's up.
It was quite a finish, and they knew it.
Busch outdueled Larson down the stretch to earn his fifth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season.
"It was a good day, a great finish, an exciting one for that, especially at a mile and a half," Busch said. "People don't necessarily see those very much anymore. Man, you've just got to be pumped for that. It's cool."
Busch moved into the lead on a restart with 58 laps to go, replacing Kevin Harvick at the front of the field. Busch, Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. - NASCAR's top three drivers so far this season - were up front with about 40 laps left before a hard-charging Larson crashed the party.
Larson powered by Harvick to get into second. He appeared to be in trouble after brushing the wall with seven laps left, but he kept going and Busch was slowed by a couple lapped cars at the back of the field.
Busch and Larson then were neck-and-neck on the final lap. Larson bumped into the back of Busch's car and moved into the lead. Busch then raced into the back of Larson's car and sped ahead for the victory.
"When I was going down the back stretch, I was like, 'Hell, no, you're not taking this one away right now,'" Busch said. "This was kind of where I was at. I was just going to do anything that it took for us to be able to get back to the start/finish line first."
Busch was booed by the crowd when he got out of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota. He playfully rubbed his left eye in a crying motion and waved off the jeering fans.
Larson, who was trying for a weekend sweep at the track after winning Saturday's Xfinity Series race, had no complaints.
"I roughed him up. He roughed me up," Larson said. "That's racing."
Busch, who also won a Cup Series race at Chicagoland in 2008, moved into a tie with Herb Thomas for 14th on the Cup Series' career wins list with 48.
"He's a one-in-a-million talent," Busch crew chief Adam Stevens said. "The sport hasn't seen too many people with his level of talent. To get the chance to race with him, win some races with him is what every little boy dreams about."
With NASCAR heading to Daytona International Speedway next weekend, Busch and Harvick are tied for the series lead in wins. It's just the fourth time in series history that two drivers have won at least five times in the first 17 races of the season, joining Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson in 2010 and Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough in 1974 and 1977.
Busch leads the standings by 62 points over Harvick, who finished third for his 11th top-10 result in 18 races on the 1.5-mile oval in the Chicago suburbs. Truex was fourth, falling short in his bid for a third straight win at the track.
"Our car was just off all weekend," Harvick said. "We had a tough time making the front end turn, and then we would wind up way too tight all the way through the corner or way too loose all the way through the corner. The guys did a good job and kept us in the game all day. We had a chance - we just wound up at the wrong side of it at the end."
Aric Almirola led a race-high 70 laps - he had led 40 laps the previous five seasons combined - but he had to pit twice for loose wheels and finished 25th.
The temperature was in the 90s for much of the day, creating difficult conditions in the cars. Drivers cooled down with bags of ice and bottles of water during pit stops.
A storm front moved into the area toward the end of the race, with the wind picking up and clouds filling the sky, but the rain held off until after the compelling conclusion.
"That was hard racing," Larson said. "I had a lot of fun."
F1: Verstappen wins
SPIELBERG, Austria - Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix as both Mercedes cars failed to finish Sunday's race.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were second and third, respectively, with Vettel taking back the lead from Lewis Hamilton in the points race for the Formula One season championship.
It was Verstappen's first win of the season and fourth overall.
On a bleak day for Mercedes, both Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas exited early with mechanical problems.
Hamilton was in front at the start but lost his lead after a tactical mistake by his team, which did not pit him under a virtual safety car when most other teams took the opportunity to switch to soft tires.
Having dropped to fourth, Hamilton then had to park his car on the 64th lap, seven short of the finish. After nine of 21 races, he trails Vettel by one point heading into the British GP next week.
Bottas had to quit after 14 laps with a hydraulic defect to his gear box.