Tag: Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch silences his critics with second NASCAR title: ‘This one feels like the first’

“You know Kyle likes to prove people wrong,” Samantha Busch said about Kyle.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Busch couldn’t help but make a sarcastic joke.

“Oh, I won a full-time championship? What do you know?” he said after winning the second NASCAR Cup Series championship of his career Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Busch earned his first title in 2015, but his biggest critics in NASCAR’s fan base said he was not worthy of winning and still question the legitimacy of it because he missed the first 11 races of that Cup season after breaking his right leg and fracturing his left foot in a wreck during the closing laps of the season-opening second-tier XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

He didn’t compete in nearly a third of the 2015 season, but NASCAR granted him a waiver allowing him to still be championship eligible. And then he won it all.

“This is great because that always did bother Kyle a little bit,” Samantha Busch, Kyle’s wife, told For The Win and two other media outlets Sunday as the family celebrated his second title. “People were like, ‘That wasn’t real. You didn’t run all the races. It doesn’t count.’ So, now what? He ran all the races this year. He was the regular season’s points champion. …

“It always had a little star by it, I think, for him, so I think this one’s going to take time to set in, and he’s gonna know he did it.”

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Busch and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team not only won the 2019 title, but they also won the Ford EcoBoost 400 when they only had to finish higher than the other championship hopefuls. Martin Truex Jr. finished second, while Kevin Harvick was fourth and Denny Hamlin 10th.

This season, Busch competed in all 36 races and won five. But there are still some peculiar similarities to his 2015 championship run, specifically his winless streaks leading up to victories at Homestead. It all feels “awfully familiar,” he said.

Five years ago after Busch returned from his injuries, he won four-of-five races between June and July, and then he went on a 15-race winless streak until he took the checkered flag in the championship race. Getting off to a comparably hot start, though healthy, he won three-of-five early on — including his 200th win across NASCAR’s three national series — a fourth in June and then rode a 21-race winless streak into Homestead.

“It felt a lot like 2015 to me, aside from the broken leg, obviously,” crew chief Adam Stevens said.

“[We] had a couple races get away from us,” he said, comparing the two championship seasons. “But it wasn’t because we weren’t fast. It wasn’t because we weren’t prepared. They just didn’t go our way.”

Despite being one of the most talented drivers on the track, the winless streak led to Busch being perceived as the underdog against Truex, Hamlin and Harvick, who all won at least one playoff race.

In another similarity to 2015, Samantha said people overlooked her husband in both championship seasons, first because he missed so many races and then because he went more than five months without a trip to Victory Lane.

“You know Kyle likes to prove people wrong,” she said. “I think he took that, internalized it [and] used it to fuel him instead of bring him back.”

A second career championship elevates Busch’s resume to another elite level. He joins seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson as the only active driver with more than one title. He now has 56 career wins, moving him into ninth on the all-time wins list.

This season and its championship finish “certainly reminded” Busch of his 2015 run, he said with a chuckle. Only this time, no one can question it.

“This one feels like the first,” he said. “But getting into next year being two-time is going to be cool. I’m certainly looking forward to that.”

[vertical-gallery id=871266]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=421393221]

Kyle Busch found the best way to celebrate his NASCAR title with his 4-year-old son

“That was really awesome,” Kyle Busch said about the moment with his son, Brexton.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Busch won his second career NASCAR Cup Series championship Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he also won the Ford EcoBoost 400.

He beat out runner-up and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr., while the other two title contenders, Kevin Harvick, who finished fourth, and Denny Hamlin, also a JGR driver, in 10th place. It was Busch’s fifth checkered flag of the season, and he snapped a 21-race streak without a win.

The No. 18 Toyota driver did a burnout on the 1.5-mile track before celebrating with his family, wife Samantha and 4-year-old son, Brexton. And then he took Brexton for a ride.

Samantha seemed to initially object, saying, “No, no,” as Kyle confirmed with NASCAR officials that he would, in fact, be allowed to do this. There’s not a second seat in these cars, so, of course, Busch went particularly slow as they drove around the Homestead track.

Harvick and his 7-year-old son Keelan have also been known to celebrate together with a quick ride. But this is a great way for Busch to celebrate a championship and make it extra special for Brexton.

“That was really awesome,” Busch said in his post-race press conference.

“Brexton actually came to me — I don’t know if he got the idea from somebody else or if he just remembered it from Keelan doing it with Kevin — and said, ‘Dad, can I go for a ride with you?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, hell, I’m good with it!’

“So we asked the NASCAR guys, and they radioed up to the tower, and we got approval to be able to do that. So that was really, really special for me and Brexton to be able to take in that moment and go for a ride around the track.”

[vertical-gallery id=871266]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=421393221]

NASCAR Betting: Ford EcoBoost 400 betting tips

Breaking down Sunday’s NASCAR Monster Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 with predicted picks and betting tips

The Monster Energy Cup Series wraps up the 2019 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday for the Ford EcoBoost 400 at 3 p.m. ET, and we’ll crown a series champion after the sun goes down.

The four drivers eligible for the championship are Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick against the Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Harvick won the series title in 2014, Busch won in 2015 and MTJ won in 2017. Only Hamlin has yet to nail down a championship, but he comes in hotter than anyone.

Who is going to win the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway?

For a full-set of today’s sports betting odds, access them at USA TODAY Sports.

Harvick enters Sunday’s race with a win, 10 top-5 finishes and 16 top-10 showings across 18 career races at Homestead with a 6.6 Average-Finish Position (AFP) with 373 laps led and zero DNFs.

NASCAR’s Loop Data shows Harvick with a 124.6 Driver Rating across the past five starts at HMS while posting a 2.6 AFP. He also leads all drivers running 99.6 percent of his laps inside the Top 15.

Busch ranks fourth in Driver Rating (111.1) across the past five starts at Homestead, leading 106 laps while posting a 10.4 AFP. He has also run 87.4 percent of his laps inside the Top 15. He has had mixed results over the years at this track, posting a win with four top-5 finishes and seven top-10 results, but he has two DNFs and a 17.4 AFP in 14 career starts.

Looking to place a bet on this race or other motorsports? Get some action in the NASCAR race through BetMGM. Sign up and bet at BetMGM now!

As far as Hamlin is concerned, he has two career victories at Homestead-Miami Speedway while posting an impressive 10.6 AFP in 14 career starts. He has led 254 laps, too. Across the past five starts he has a 102.6 Driver Rating while running 92.6 percent of his laps inside the Top 15. He is just as good a bet as any to win and claim his first championship. MTJ has a 98.2 Driver Rating, and he has a 13.6 AFP across the past five stops at Homestead while running 83.3 percent of his laps inside the Top 15.

Homestead-Miami Speedway long-shot bets

If you’re looking for a non-title contender to come and ruin the party, look to Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott. He has finishes of fifth, seventh and 11th in three career starts at Homestead. While he is certainly not returning big odds, and probably could have been in the hunt for a title if not for a wreck in Phoenix last week, he might have something to prove.

Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson is also a non-contender looking to capture checkers. He has six career starts at HMS, turning in three top-5s and three top-10s with an AFP of 8.5 while racking up 325 laps led. He has never won at Homestead, but he has a runner-up finish under his belt.

Now that you know which drivers you should consider to bet in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, head to BetMGM and place your wagers today.

Follow @JoeWilliamsVI and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

[lawrence-newsletter]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1950]

After 14 years, Denny Hamlin is ready for his moment in NASCAR’s title race

Denny Hamlin’s confidence is at an all-time high ahead of NASCAR’s championship race.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Denny Hamlin’s confidence is peaking.

One strong performance in the 36th and final race of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season stands between him and his first career championship after 14 years at the sport’s highest level. He won his sixth race of the year six days ago at ISM Raceway near Phoenix to secure his place among the final Championship 4 contenders.

Ahead of Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Hamlin is excited but not nervous. He’s relaxed and actually feels like he already won.

“We won Homestead last week,” Hamlin said Thursday. “That was our win-or-go-home race. We performed at an incredibly high level. We have now a free weekend to go out there and have fun and keep doing what we’ve been doing. We’ll have a chance by the end of the night because we have all year long as long as we do the same thing.”

Hamlin is joined in the final four by two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick. He doesn’t have win the race to claim the championship; he just has to finish higher than the other three —although the last five champions have also taken the checkered flag.

Hamlin after winning at Phoenix on Sunday to guarantee his spot in the title race. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Hamlin almost didn’t make it

With 19 top-5 finishes so far, Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota has been consistently strong all season. He opened the year with his second Daytona 500 win and took checkered flags at Pocono Raceway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway’s playoff race in October.

But until Sunday, he and his team were on the brink of elimination. He had a poor finish at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago and entered the Phoenix race one spot below the four-driver cutoff line. And then he dominated, leading 143 of 312 laps on his way to the win.

“I’ve been eliminated from the playoffs many, many ways,” said Hamlin, who is tied for 22nd on the all-time wins list with 37 and the most successful driver without a title.

“The craziest [expletive] has happened to me to keep me from winning championships. Texas was on me. I was going to hate that I was going to be responsible for ending our chance at a championship.”

Hoping third time’s a charm

This is Hamlin’s third real shot at winning it all. He was the runner-up in 2010 to Jimmie Johnson after the title slipped away in the final two races. He said he wasn’t having any fun by the end of that season.

Then in 2014, he finished third in the standings, behind champion Harvick and Ryan Newman, when his car wasn’t running well. Hamlin said he was just happy to be in contention.

Hamlin at Homestead in 2014. (Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports)

But this year is different in so many ways. He said he’s not angry or stressed like in past playoff or championship-contending years. Everything feels “nicer and friendlier,” and he’s “not as agitated” this time around.

He said his confidence has never been higher — “not even in 2010 when we were really fast every week.”

Bouncing back from a career-low

Hamlin’s six checkered flags this season follow a winless 2018 — a first for him as a full-time Cup driver. He still made the playoffs but finished 11th in the standings.

“If you go through a whole year like he did last year and not win a race, the rumors start,” team owner Joe Gibbs said Friday. “‘Is this guy over the hill?’ I think Denny was fighting through that, saying that’s not the case. …

“I think that we all know that people mature and grow up. Different things happen in their life, and so I think Denny is — I think he’s in a part in his life where he says, ‘I get a second chance really in a lot of ways,’ and he’s making the most of it.”

Hamlin in the garage at Homestead. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

This year, Hamlin, who turns 39 Monday, is also paired with a new crew chief, Chris Gabehart, after three seasons with Mike Wheeler, and Gibbs said he noticed the positive effect Gabehart has had on the their driver.

Gabehart, 38, “brings out the best” in him, whether he’s a calming voice of reason or pumping him up moments before a green flag flies, Hamlin said.

Even Busch detects the chemistry between Hamlin and Gabehart, who was once a mechanical engineer for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

“Something’s a little bit different with Denny,” Busch said Thursday. “[Gabehart has] done a really, really good job of whether you want to say flipping Denny into the right frame of mind or whatever. But he’s just been a really good leader, and Denny’s been a good listener.”

Hamlin vs. the NASCAR champions

Under NASCAR’s current playoff format, this is Hamlin’s second appearance in the Championship 4 after 2014. But that’s nothing compared with Harvick, Busch and Truex, who are also all past champs.

Hamlin, Harvick, Truex and Busch at media day Thursday. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Harvick won his title in 2014 and has made it to the final four in five of the last six years. Same goes for Busch, the 2015 champ, but his five appearances have been consecutive since his title season. And Truex made it in four of the last five years, winning it all in 2017.

But Hamlin knows how to win at Homestead. In 14 starts, he has two wins — the other three have one each — and was the last driver finish first without winning it all (2013). He’s also earned four top-5 finishes and nine top 10s.

He’ll start on the pole Sunday, followed by Harvick, Truex, Busch and the rest of the 40-car field.

“I’m excited because I know I’ve got the opportunity, a really, really good, legit opportunity to go out there and get it done,” Hamlin said. “I’m just going to do the same things, prepare the same way that I have all year. I know that will give me a chance.

“At some point in the race, I’m going to have an opportunity to take control and win the race. As long as I continue to do that, I’ll live with the result, win or lose.”

[vertical-gallery id=851136]

[jwplayer g5EVxfqr-q2aasYxh]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=421393221]

Kyle Busch says retiring with 1 NASCAR title would ‘suck’ but 5 is ‘still attainable’

He has a chance to win his second NASCAR title this weekend.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Kyle Busch doesn’t relive his “what-if” moments and missed opportunities. But he said he’s not where he hoped he’d be after 15 full-time NASCAR Cup Series seasons.

The 34-year-old No. 18 Toyota driver is the 2015 NASCAR champion, he’s tied for ninth on the all-time Cup wins list with 55 and, earlier this season, he earned his 200th checkered flag across NASCAR’s three national series. He’s the most polarizing driver on the track, but his skill is undeniable.

But Busch will never be satisfied — at least, not until his championship total, at a minimum, triples.

“I’m behind for sure — definitely behind and in wins and championships,” Busch said Thursday ahead of the 2019 championship race Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“Why? The list goes on. It’s a pretty long one, so how many can you get now is about where it’s at. If I end with one, that’s gonna suck. If I can only get two, ehh, whatever. But three, four, five — I think five’s still achievable. But when you get to this final race in this moment, this championship format the way that it is, and five years in a row and you only come away with one, that gets pretty defeating.”

Donald Page/Getty Images

Busch isn’t quite there yet, but he clearly holds himself to an exceptionally high standard.

He’s one of four remaining 2019 championship contenders, along with teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., plus Kevin Harvick. This is the fifth straight year Busch has advanced to the Championship 4 race under the current playoff format, which was implemented in 2014. But he hasn’t won it all since his first title.

To be fair, Jimmie Johnson is the only active driver with more than one championship, and he won his record-tying seventh in 2016. Unprecedentedly, Johnson also won five consecutively, which Busch said is “certainly hard for the rest of us to beat.”

And despite already achieving what is likely enough to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, Busch isn’t impressed. When asked if he ever gives himself credit for winning as regularly as he does, he said, “No, not really.”

Since his 2015 championship, Busch’s best finish in the standings was second to Truex in 2017. He was fourth in 2018 behind champion Joey Logano, Truex and Harvick and third in 2016 after Johnson and Logano.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

“Just there’s been too many missed opportunities,” he said, specifically citing 2016.

“There’s a lot of stuff out there that coulda, shoulda, woulda, and it just didn’t happen for whatever reason. And we just got to figure out how to leave all that behind this weekend though and go out there and succeed.”

The 2019 regular-season champ, Busch has four wins so far this season, but he hasn’t been to Victory Lane since June. Between his own skill, the brilliance of crew chief Adam Stevens and the fastest pit crew on the track, he’s still been able to dominate thanks to in-race points earned.

Through 35 races in 2019, he’s led a series-high 1,462 laps (14.64 percent), he has 16 top-5 finishes (45.71 percent) and he didn’t finish just two races.

He said he only briefly enjoys his successes because he’s just so aware of how much more he wants to attain.

“Trust me,” Busch said, “there ain’t gonna be anybody happier than me if we cross the finish line first on Sunday — for at least the first 10 minutes.”

[jwplayer g5EVxfqr-q2aasYxh]

[vertical-gallery id=851136]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=421393221]

How Kyle Busch won around $1,000 off his fellow NASCAR drivers

Kyle Busch won an easy bet against his fellow NASCAR championship contenders — with a little trickery.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Kyle Busch already beat his fellow NASCAR championship contenders this week and even made some money off of them.

In New York on Tuesday promoting Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick were stuck in “heavy traffic” on their way back to their hotel. They were about five miles away but barely moving, so Busch decided to run it.

The No. 18 Toyota driver made a bet that he could arrive at the hotel on foot faster than they could driving. So Busch mapped it out, he changed his shoes and he, along with a cameraman — who works for Pro Sports Management, the company that represents Hamlin — got out of the van and took off running.

Hamlin said Thursday at NASCAR’s championship media day that it was his idea to get his teammate to jog through Midtown Manhattan with the temperature in the mid-30s, joking that he was “just trying to hamper my competition” ahead of NASCAR’s title race.

Busch was going to get a few hundred dollars from them just for doing it, Truex, told For The Win on Thursday at NASCAR’s Media Day, adding that he initially put down $100. But they were going to kick in a few hundred more if he actually won the bet. Truex said he would double his offer while Hamlin’s payout went from $100 to $300.

Sweating and panting by the time he was done, Busch won the race by a lot.

It took him about 20 minutes to get to the hotel, and he FaceTimed with the other drivers still in the van to prove he made it. But that’s when they guessed something was amiss.

“Somebody’s full of [expletive] here,” Hamlin said in a video posted to his social media channels.

Turns out that while the driving route said their hotel was about five miles away, Busch looked at the directions for walking, which dropped the distance to fewer than two miles.

“I’m glad I had a witness go with me, and he’s just as whipped as I am,” Busch told his fellow championship contenders while FaceTiming with them.

“[I was] zig-zagging in and out of traffic, and it was pretty awesome. And I was in the middle of the street for a while.”

Eventually, Hamlin, Truex and Harvick figured out how Busch got the best of them. Obviously, they were in disbelief that Busch ran a 4.5-minute mile in shoes borrowed from the cameraman who tagged along, but not even two miles in 20 minutes makes a lot more sense.

“We just realized we got whamboozled, absolutely whamboozled,” Hamlin said in a video afterward. “We Wazed it at 5.2 miles. That seems like a really long way. However, if you click the ‘walk’ button, he only had to travel 1.8 miles. … He still put a decent pace on it. It is 30-some degrees out here.”

In the end, they combine to owe Busch “about a grand,” Harvick said at media day. But the three NASCAR drivers weren’t the only ones to get in on the bet, Truex told FTW.

During the press conference for the championship drivers Thursday, Busch said Truex still hasn’t paid up yet, and the No. 19 Toyota driver joked he’s “on a payment plan.”

“Although Kyle’s run was impressive, would have been more impressive if he would have had boots on and carrying a camera like the other guy,” Hamlin said.

But in addition to owing Busch money, Harvick had another form of punishment Tuesday as they finished their commute back to the hotel.

“I carried [his] shoes,” Harvick said Thursday of the kicks Busch changed out of. “I felt like I was obligated in losing the bet to carry his shoes back.”

[vertical-gallery id=851136]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=421393221]