MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Kyle Busch finally figured out Martinsville Speedway in his truck victory Saturday.

Then he dominated Sunday’s race, leading 352 laps and pulling away on a restart with 11 laps to go for his first Sprint Cup victory on the series’ smallest, oldest oval.

Kyle Busch crosses the finish line to win Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. Busch led 352 of 500 laps on the way to his 35th career Sprint Cup victory. The Associated Press

It was the 35th Cup victory for Busch, who was winless in 31 starts at Martinsville prior to Saturday.

The race was run in bright sunshine, but cool temperatures that never let the track get quite as sticky as it normally does.

The option to pick the inside or outside line as the leader on the final restart was great for Busch, but not for teammate Matt Kenseth.

“That was the key to the race, being able to restart on the bottom like that,” Busch said after choosing the inside line.

“We all talked as a group earlier this morning about how we were going to do that and what we were going to do, and we all said, with 10 to go, it’s pretty much off limits. It was (11) to go, so it was pretty much right on the brink there, so, ‘Sorry Matt.”‘

When the green flag flew, Busch sailed off and AJ Allmendinger beat Kenseth to the inside position, as Kenseth got shuffled back to 15th.

Busch, meanwhile, led the most laps at Martinsville since Bobby Hamilton was out front for 378 on April 20, 1998.

Allmendinger was second, followed by Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski.

“I was kind of hoping we’d stay green the last 120 laps,” Allmendinger said. “I figured that wasn’t going to happen, but I was praying we had a shot at that because I felt like if that happened, we had a great chance to win the race.”

Several other drivers who pitted before the final restart started in the sixth row, or further back, of side-by-side racing. Larson and Keselowski recovered for top-five finishes, but others got caught up in traffic.

Kenseth endured another disappointment at a track that has long been his nemesis. He seemed poised to challenge Busch for the lead with 35 laps to go until a blown tire by Jamie McMurray caused a caution, bunching up the field.

“I was a little worried there toward the end, before that last caution came out, that Matt was catching me,” Busch said. “He was on me pretty good and I wasn’t sure that I had enough brake in order to handle the rest of the day, but fortunately we got a yellow there.”

It was also a lost day for defending race champion Denny Hamlin, who finished 42nd after he lost control heading into Turn 1 and slammed into the wall while running in fifth place.

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