Kyle Busch Wins Duck Commander 500

Hendrick Motorsports has been limited to two Jimmie Johnson victories this season, but placing four drivers among the top eight finishers at Texas Motor Speedway will rank as one of its better days in 2016.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second with Johnson fourth, rookie Chase Elliott fifth and Kasey Kahne eighth Saturday night in the Duck Commander 500.

"The company as a whole is pushing real hard to improve, and there's an impression within the company that we need to grind a little bit and make some gains going forward into the middle of the season here," Earnhardt said. "But I was real encouraged with my car tonight.

"Usually we typically have a top-10 or a top-5 car, but tonight we had one of the best two or three cars, and you can't ask for anything better than that."

The key to the Hendrick success was overcoming various mistakes and pitfalls. Elliott had to start at the rear of the field because of a prerace transmission change. Johnson ran into the back of eventual race-winner Kyle Busch on pit road and heavily damaged the nose of the car. Later, Earnhardt and Johnson had to battle from the back of the lead-lap cars when the caution came out during their pit stops.

For Kahne, he was a lap down at one point but was able to get back on the lead lap thanks to the free pass with 50 laps to go. He was then able to pit for tires and wound up with his best finish in his past 12 Sprint Cup races, which lifted him two spots into 16th in the standings. For a driver trying to find his footing, being inside the Chase for the Sprint Cup cutoff, no matter the time of year, is a good thing.

In other words: Hendrick had a day it could build on, and that's something just as important as winning.

"There at the end, we were actually pretty competitive the last probably 250 laps, like really competitive," Kahne said. "We were down a lap a lot of it, but we were really competitive.

"Once we got back up there I think we were definitely a top-10 car and we finished eighth. It was the best we have done in a long time. It feels nice."

Maybe the most impressive performance came from the rookie Elliott, who enjoyed his career-best finish and improved to 14th in the standings.