After falling one position shy of hitting the 200 NASCAR national-series win mark despite a dominant performance in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, Kyle Busch continued his weekend of dominance on Sunday and claimed that 200th win in the Auto Club 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.
“Feels just like number one; feels just like yesterday,” Busch said. “Man, that was such an awesome race car. I mean, dang. This Interstate Batteries Camry was awesome today. I'm glad we put on a heck of a show for all these fans out here in California at Auto Club Speedway. It takes green to get in victory lane today; today is St. Patty's day. All these other guys were at a disadvantage. The Interstate Batteries Green Machine was flying today. Just awesome. Just awesome. To win 200, I mean, whatever it means, it means a lot to me. It means a lot to all my guys, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. You guys are all the best, Toyota, TRD. It's an amazing opportunity to drive for Joe Gibbs. I cherish every minute of it; love it always. Just wish that we could keep it going, keep it going like this, running strong, running well, and winning these races.”
With the win, Busch also became the first repeat winner of 2019, five races into the Cup Series season, following his win from a week earlier at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.
Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski finished second and third. Keselowski led 42 laps, making him the only driver of than Busch to lead a double-digit tally of laps in the 200-lap race. Busch led a race-high 134 laps.
Busch’s dominant performance in Sunday’s Cup Series race included two stage wins at laps 60 and 120 before he was penalized for speeding on pit road during the caution at the end of the second stage. As a result of the penalty he restarted in the 18th position.
“Well, we just had an awesome race car all day long,” Busch said. Adam Stevens [crew chief] and the boys never cease to amaze me, and the way they’re able to work and the way they’re able to do things for me is pretty awesome. Just having a fast Interstate Batteries Camry and being able to come back through after our speeding penalty, I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to get there and get it done, but once we got about four or five laps in on that last run, we really charged through there and got to those guys, and we were able to drive away. Just an awesome day for us. This is pretty cool to be able to come out here to California, a place where I remember getting sat out, and then, I remember winning my first Cup Series race and now, to bookend it with 200 right here, it’s pretty awesome.”
Busch was just outside the top-five, in sixth, by the time his fellow competitors began cycling through green-flag pit stops for the final time with 40 laps remaining. Busch stayed out a few extra laps and, as a result, was leading when the yellow flag waved for the fourth and final time with 37 laps to go when Darrell Wallace Jr. blew a tire.
Even though almost everyone had pitted about three laps earlier, most of the race field returned to the pits with Busch. Ryan Blaney, though, stayed out to restart with the lead, but on slightly older tires, Blaney dropped back when the race restarted for the final time.
Logano and Keselowski, meanwhile, battled for the lead, with both drivers leading laps before Busch took his race-winning final lead with 26 laps to go by passing Logano.
“We were racing hard, and no matter who got to the lead, the 18 [Busch] was going to pass us,” Logano said. "He was the best car today. We have some work to do to get faster but the team did a great job today. We held strong today with the Auto Club Ford Mustang. You want to win at the home track of your sponsor. We gave it a solid run. I hate being that close. The last few laps you are running up against the wall, and he had a big enough lead to kind of cruise a little, and you are just hoping a lap car gets in the way or something. It was solid. We have a lot of momentum on this race team right now.”
After drivers including Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin and Aric Almirola led laps early in the race, Busch took his first lead by lap 14 and led most of the remaining laps of the opening stage. He lost the lead for a few laps during the first cycle of green-flag stops and, again, when he pitted from the lead when the yellow flag waved for the first time with Dillon blew a tire with five laps remaining in the stage.
Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Hamlin, was one of three drivers who stayed out during the caution, but when the race restarted for one final lap in the first stage, Busch got by all three of them to retake the lead before a Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spin resulted in the opening stage ending under caution.
Busch was up front for the restart at the beginning of the second stage. He lost both first and second to Logano and Almirola on the restart, but on lap 72, he passed Logano for the lead. After retaking the lead, Busch remained up front for the remainder of stage two, even retaining his lead through another cycle of green-flag stops by pitting late in the cycle.
Kevin Harvick and Blaney rounded out the top-five. Kurt Busch finished sixth, Hamlin was seventh, Martin Truex Jr. eighth, Almirola ninth, and Dillon finished 10th.
