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BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch needed this. Had to have this. He said entering this weekend he had to finish in the top five in each of the last three races before the Chase cutoff to have a chance to contend for the Sprint Cup title.

Saturday night, he watched as problems befell others and rocketed into the lead to not only sweep the two races at Bristol Motor Speedway, but move closer to making the Chase.

Busch, who led the final 68 laps, scored his fourth victory of the season, tying Mark Martin for most wins this season and denying Martin a win in what was his 1,000th overall start in NASCAR.

"The 18 is not going down without a fight," crew chief Steve Addington said after the race on the radio to Busch.

"Thank you guys," Busch responded in a tired voice. "Thank you guys. Thank you."

Said Martin on his radio to car owner Rick Hendrick: "We tried to get that trophy."

Busch is 34 points behind Matt Kenseth for the last transfer spot for the Chase with two races to go until the field is set.

Martin finished second after having lead nearly half the race. Greg Biffle was third with Marcos Ambrose fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth.

Ryan Newman placed sixth with Kurt Busch seventh, Jimmie Johnson eighth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ninth and Kenseth 10th.

The drama was delayed when a crash brought out the yellow eight laps from the finish.

Then light rain fell as the race was stopped to take away Michael Waltrip's car, which was among those involved in the crash.

"Why do they have to wreck?" Martin radioed crew chief Alan Gustafson.

"I know it's frustrating," Gustafson replied.

"Man, I'm telling you, I wish we could have just raced for it instead of doing this jockeying."

The crash site was cleaned and the rain stopped, giving Martin one last chance. Martin pulled under Busch's car on the last two laps but couldn't complete the move.

Johnson made a big recovery but it wasn't big enough to overcome a pit road mistake that cost him the lead and likely the win.

The crew dropped the jack too soon during their lap 423 stop and didn't get the right rear tightened.

Johnson had to return to the pits to receive a new right rear tire.

He fell from first to 21st because of the miscue.

Points leader Tony Stewart's race started poorly when radio problems prevented communications between him and his team.

The team tried to fix it during two pit stops after the night's first caution on lap 12. During the next caution, the crew called Stewart to pit and planned to exchange helmets.

Stewart didn't pit, regaining the lap he had lost on the first caution.

He stayed on the lead lap until lap 101 when Martin passed him as Stewart ran 36th.

Radio problems persisted as Stewart fell to 38th on lap 144 and was a lap down. The problems were finally fixed just after the halfway mark in the 500-lap race.

At that point, Stewart was two laps down and his chances for any type of good finish were ruined.

He wasn't the only driver to have problems. Jeff Gordon struggled and then as he climbed toward the top 10 had handling issues. He lost a lap on lap 323 and fell a second lap back.

Later, he lost several laps after his car quit running, adding to what was already a miserable night.

He finished 33rd.

Carl Edwards, who had won this race each of the past two years, struggled most of the race and didn't get back on the lead lap until late in the race.

He finished 16th.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com