Kyle Busch took the first race win of his NASCAR Sprint Cup title defence and his first at Martinsville in the top series with a crushing performance.

The reigning champion led an incredible 352 of the 500 laps and was calm at the final restart to fend off a late challenge from Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Matt Kenseth.

The outside lane proved to be the wrong choice for Kenseth as he slipped back to finish 15th, a disappointing result given he was a constant top three runner all race and had traded places with his team-mate in the early stages.

In a bid to keep Stewart-Haas’s Kevin Harvick behind, the JGR pair didn’t fight and allowed each other to pass for the lead when their car’s handling went away from them at restarts.

Busch eventually emerged as the stronger of the two and proceeded to take complete control of the race, adding the Cup win to his triumph in the Truck Series support event on Saturday.

Harvick had looked to challenge for the win and did lead 72 laps, but pitstop errors and a poor final restart on the outside lane meant he finished 17th.

Staying out for the final restart as others pitted for tyres paid off for AJ Allmendinger as the JTG Daugherty Racing driver finished second.

Conversely taking four fresh tyres at the final stops allowed Kyle Larson to snatch third, with Austin Dillon fourth.

Brad Keselowski came back from a pitlane speeding penalty at the second caution to finish fifth.

Polesitter Joey Logano had looked strong all weekend but ended up a lap down early on after the handling of his Penske Ford drastically deteriorated.

Despite getting a free pass on lap 136, he never really recovered and finished 11th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr finished 14th after recovering from an early spin that put him a lap down.

Last year’s winner Denny Hamlin had started eighth and was fifth before smacking the wall near half-distance and causing terminal damage to his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

RESULTS

Kyle Busch wins Martinsville NASCAR hit out