Bristol, Tenn. ? Kurt Busch survived the usual bumping and banging at Bristol Motor Speedway, including the tap he put on Jimmy Spencer, to win his first career race.

Busch gambled on pit strategy and bumped Spencer out of his way Sunday to win the Food City 500, a race that ended with tempers flaring and a pit road confrontation between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Robby Gordon.

“There’s nothing better than the first one,” said Busch, who got out of his car at the finish line, grabbed the checkered flag from an official and carried it around the track on his victory lap.

“It’s just unreal. You never expect to win at Bristol, for your first one anyhow. You just don’t feel like it’s going to be your day at Bristol. You never know what can happen here.”

No you don’t, not on the high-banks of Bristol’s .533-mile bullring, where the bumping and banging begins as soon as the race begins.

It led to 14 cautions and the usual post-race confrontations, including a verbal spar between Busch and Spencer over the decisive tap.

Busch opted not to follow leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the pits following the 13th caution, inheriting the lead with 85 laps to go. He briefly gave it up to Spencer, who moved in on Busch’s bumper and muscled his way into the lead coming off Turn 4 on lap 444.

But in Turn 2 of the next lap, Busch fought back and bumped his way back into the lead. Spencer nearly lost control of his car on the contact, but saved it, although he lost a lot of ground in his bid to challenge for the lead.

“When racing for victories or top fives, you have to respect the leaders,” Spencer said. “When you don’t, it will come back to haunt you. I didn’t do that to him and he shouldn’t have done it to me.”

But Busch, who gave Roush Racing its second win of the year, claimed he was just getting back at Spencer for a similar incident last year.

“Last year at Phoenix, he dumped us flat out. He was a lapped car, and we were racing for eighth place,” Busch said. “That was in my mind. He was the one that never forgets. I guess we can say I don’t forget what happened in Phoenix.”

Spencer finished second, Ricky Rudd was third and was followed by Earnhardt Jr. and Bobby Labonte.