Busch brightest spark with defining final move

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- He was involved numerous wrecks. He twice saved his car in spinouts.

All that and Kyle Busch still finished Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout in Victory Lane.

After pushing Tony Stewart to the lead and separating themselves from the rest of the pack, Busch went to the outside lane exiting Turn 4 on the last lap and beat Stewart to the finish line by 0.013 seconds in a drag race.

It's Busch first win in the Shootout, the unofficial start to the Sprint Cup Series season at Daytona International Speedway. It also is Toyota's first win in the event.

Stewart finished second, Marcos Ambrose third, Brad Keselowski fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth.

It was clear from the beginning, much of the two-car drafting that dominated the restrictor-plate racing last season was gone, or at least greatly diminished.

Much of the first 25-lap segment involved cars racing in larger packs.

In fact, the lone accident during the first segment occurred on Lap 9 when David Ragan was bump-drafting with Paul Menard while racing in a pack.

Menard called the racing "chaotic."

"The old-style pack racing seemed less chaotic than this is because you can still get to the bumper and push, but just not for very long," Menard said. "There is a lot of that going on in the middle of the pack."

Jamie McMurray ended the segment as the leader, followed by Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Ambrose.

Michael Waltrip, Ragan and Menard were involved in the Lap 9 wreck and were unable to continue.

On Lap 32 of the scheduled 75, Clint Bowyer went spinning though the infield grass.

On the restart on Lap 37, Greg Biffle was the leader followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano.

Several more contenders got caught up in a six-car wreck on Lap 55, started when Ambrose hit the left rear of Logano's car.

Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. all were collected in the accident.

The race restarted on Lap 62 with Biffle in the lead, followed by Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

With the race winding to a finish, Gordon clipped the left rear of Kyle Busch's bumper, which triggered a multicar wreck that eliminated Gordon, Johnson, McMurray, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and A.J. Allmendinger from contention.