The result came just five races after Joe Gibbs Toyota driver Kyle returned to action following his leg-breaking Daytona crash.

Elder brother Kurt looked the more likely victor for much of the Cup series’ first road course round of 2015, leading 43 of the 110 laps and initially inching clear of poleman AJ Allmendinger after getting the better start.

But in a race of myriad strategy variables, Stewart-Haas driver Busch kept finding himself mired in traffic after pitting under yellow as others stayed out.

Despite charging first from 12th to fourth, then ninth to second after stops in the final quarter of the race, Kurt ran out of time to make it all the way back to the front, as his brother held him off by just half a second.

Michael Waltrip Racing’s Clint Bowyer was in the thick of the late fight with the Busch brothers and wound up third ahead of champion Kevin Harvick.

Jimmie Johnson could easily have taken victory as he and Hendrick stuck doggedly to a two-stop strategy.

With most others pitting three times, Johnson led by nearly half a minute at one stage and ended up leading the most laps.

He was controlling the race until the final yellow, when the rest of the frontrunners all pitted to get fresh tyres and Johnson stayed out.

Although another four cars followed that tactic, they were all rapidly dismissed by the group on new rubber – led by the Buschs and Bowyer – over the final seven-lap shootout and Johnson fell to sixth behind Joey Logano.

Allmendinger was firmly in victory contention until an engine problem forced a trip back to the JTG Daugherty garage.

The race was briefly red-flagged after Martin Truex Jr damaged the concrete wall in a heavy crash triggered by contact with David Ragan.

Ragan was in further trouble later on when he came together with Carl Edwards on a restart while running on the cusp of the top five.