Inclement weather bit Kyle Busch at Daytona International Speedway the weekend before when the veteran driver opted to stay out to lead during a caution to possibly steal a rain-shortened-race win, but then, aborted that plan to pit when the race looked to be about to restart. After giving up the lead to pit, that restart was further delayed by a lightning advisory, never to happen, and the win was, instead, stolen by NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Justin Haley, who stuck with the stay-out plan. At Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night, a late-race caution played into Busch’s hand, and he parlayed it into a win.
“We got a yellow at the end that put us back,” Busch said. “Whatever last week was, it’s this week right now, and we got the trophy!”
A spin by Darrell Wallace Jr. on lap 261 sent the race into overtime, and the resulting green-white-checker had Busch in fourth, in the second row, behind then-leader Joey Logano and little brother Kyle Busch on the front row.
On the final restart, Kyle Busch took the lead from Logano, and Kurt Busch moved into second. On the final lap, lap 269, older brother beat little brother.
“Hell yeah! Hell yeah! Racing your little brother every week,” Kurt Busch said. “I’m proud of him. I’m proud that he gave me a little bit of room on that outside. He could have clobbered us against the wall, and third place is probably what we would have got. But what an awesome run! We got this Monster Chevy in victory lane! Thank you, Kentucky!”
The win was Kurt Busch’s first win of the season and the first victory of the year for Chip Ganassi Racing. It also was the first win at Kentucky Speedway for Chevrolet in nine years of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racing there. The win also was a career-first for crew chief Matt McCall.
“This is the first win for this group of guys and I’m really proud of them,” Kurt Busch said. “The way that we came together really had speed. We just weren’t completing all the steps that it took to be a winner in the Monster Energy Cup Series. And now, we’re all winners.”
Kyle Busch, meanwhile, was forced to settle for runner-up honors.
“Glad it was a thriller,” Kyle Busch said. “It’s just unfortunate we were on the wrong end of the deal for everybody at M&Ms and Toyota, Interstate Batteries, all the folks that get us to where we’re at. Congratulations to Kurt and Chip and Monster, all the guys over there. It’s, obviously, cool to put on great races and great finishes, and I’ve been a part of a lot of them and not very many, in fact none, with my brother like that. That was a first. No hard feelings.”
Chip Ganassi Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing combined to take the top-five at the finish. Kurt Busch’s CGR teammate Kyle Larson finished fourth. Kyle Busch’s JGR teammates Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin finished third and fifth, respectively.
Logano was shuffled back in the two-lap, green-flag sprint to the checkered flag after restarting with the lead. Logano had taken the lead from Kyle Busch in a physical battle between the two drivers as a final green-flag cycle of pit stops concluded with a Daniel Suarez pit stop on lap 247.
Kurt Busch was the race leader at the start of the final green-flag cycle of stops, but he gave up that lead to pit for four tires on lap 213. Logano and Kyle Busch, though, waited until later in the cycle, lap 225, and took only two tires each. After their two-tire stops, Kyle Busch and Logano cycled to the top-two positions in the running order.
“I didn’t know that they had four tires,” Kyle Busch said of his brother. “I guess that probably had some of the difference. I knew I cleared him into three, and if I just stayed in the gas, I was never going to make the exit. I was going to plow the fence, but maybe I should have just gotten in front of him and messed up his air. It’s so easy to do with these cars. It’s pretty much just air games. I missed my chance over there, I guess. That’s about all I could really have done different.”
The Busch family also monopolized stage wins Saturday night at Kentucky. Kurt Busch won the first 80-lap stage, and Kyle Busch took the second stage that ended at lap 160. By the checkered flag, Kyle Busch was credited with 72 laps led, the most of anyone. Kurt Busch led 41 laps.
Daniel Suarez started on the pole and led the first 49 laps. Kurt Busch took the lead for the first time on the restart that followed the first caution of the race that came as a result of a flat right-front tire for Chase Elliott on lap 47. Kurt Busch was second to Brad Keselowski for the restart after both took fuel only during the caution. Kurt Busch, then, led the remainder of the opening stage.
Suarez led a few more laps later in the race but wound up eighth at the finish after overcoming a pit-road speeding penalty.
“It was an eventful night, for sure,” Suarez. “We just had a fast race car, but we got a bit tight. I feel like we made the car better, but we never got the track position back. We had a tire going down, and then, I was speeding coming to pit road, because I was wheel hopping because of the tire. It was one problem after another. We were fast enough to overcome that but not enough to get a better finish. I feel like the good thing is that we have the speed. We just have to keep working to have a cleaner day and keep working to try to keep that speed the whole race.”
A two-tire stop got Kyle Busch off pit road first during the caution between the first two stages, but he restarted eighth behind seven drivers who stayed out after pitting during another recent caution. He took his first lead by passing Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on lap 104. He maintained his lead during a cycle of green-flag stops on lap lap 149 and was still up front when the second stage ended.
Kyle Busch as back to fifth in the running order to start the final stage, despite being first off pit road with a fuel-only stop after the end of the second stage. Four drivers, including Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch, stayed out for track position. Kurt Busch retook the lead on lap 205.
Bowyer finished sixth, Ryan Newman was ninth and Chris Buescher rounded out the top-10.
