Richard Childress Racing swapped the over-the-wall pit crews for Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon this week as Busch works toward advancing in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason. Busch, a two-time series champion, said Friday he didn’t push for the change …
Richard Childress Racing swapped the over-the-wall pit crews for Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon this week as Busch works toward advancing in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason.
Busch, a two-time series champion, said Friday he didn’t push for the change but was among those who made the suggestion. It then became a conversation amongst key individuals in the company.
“It was a group decision; it was a group conversation that kind of happened, but there was one guy who made the decision,” Busch said. “Austin was included in that conversation as well.
“I feel like if you could go with an eight, nine pit crew to a nine, 10 pit crew, you’re going to take it right now. You have to. Whether it’s speed or consistency or both – in our case, I think it was both – if there’s an improvement you can make, you’ve got to make it right now.”
Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway (6:30 p.m. ET) is the first elimination race in the postseason. Busch and the No. 8 team entered as the No. 5 seed and is 24 points above the cutline. Dillon did not earn a postseason berth.
Busch’s new over-the-wall crew will be Joshua Thomas (front changer), Paul Swan (tire carrier), Ethan Tingler (rear changer), and Nick Covey (jack). No change was made among the fuelers.
The first time Busch will work with his new crew will be in the race. He was unable to make it to the Childress campus this week for pit practice.
“There wasn’t time this week, unfortunately,” Busch said. “My schedule didn’t allow me to get up there on Tuesday when they were doing pit practice stuff. Hopefully it’s a plug-and-play and everything’s good.”
Kyle Busch will have to come from the rear of the field for the second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series playoff race after hitting the wall in practice at Kansas Speedway. Busch made heavy contact with the Turn 4 wall after blowing a right rear tire in …
Kyle Busch will have to come from the rear of the field for the second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series playoff race after hitting the wall in practice at Kansas Speedway.
Busch made heavy contact with the Turn 4 wall after blowing a right rear tire in Turn 4. He did not attempt a qualifying lap as the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team began making repairs to his Chevrolet.
“Just like every other weekend – always put in a hole, always put behind, always have to come and dig ourselves out,” Busch said. “Hate it for all the guys; the car was really good. We had good longevity there. We were just running laps and running some pretty good laps compared to the rest of our group that we were with at that time. Was just going to fine-tune some things in order to get ready for qualifying, and here we are starting last again.
“Just never ends. I don’t know what to do to change it. Hate it, again, for our Casey’s General Stores guys; got a lot of work ahead of us tonight, but we’ll do it.”
Busch was 21st fastest overall in practice.
A week ago, Busch also hit the wall in practice ahead of the postseason opener at Darlington Raceway. He was able to make a qualifying lap in Darlington, good enough for 11th fastest, but had to move to the rear of the field because of the repairs. He finished 11th.
Busch is a two-time winner at Kansas Speedway, doing so in the spring of 2016 and 2021. In his last three Kansas races, however, he has one top-five finish and two finishes outside the top 25.
The two-time Cup Series champion is seventh on the playoff grid with a 20-point advantage on the cutline.
Kyle Busch talks about the possibility of bringing Richard Childress Racing its first NASCAR Cup Series championship since 1994.
[autotag]Kyle Busch[/autotag] joined [autotag]Richard Childress Racing[/autotag] looking for a fresh start and it started off with a bang. Busch won the second race of the year at Auto Club Speedway and went on to win two more races during the 2023 NASCAR regular season. Now. the driver of the No. 8 car enters the postseason with the fifth-most playoff points due to his numerous victories.
This will greatly help Busch make a push for the Championship 4 in his first season with the organization. In fact, the two-time Cup Series champion discussed the idea of bringing a NASCAR title to Richard Childress Racing during Playoff Media Day on Thursday afternoon.
“I mean it would be phenomenal…it would be awesome,” Busch said. “That’s what we all strive for. I don’t care what team I’m at, I’m going to go try to win a championship. But to have the history and the legacy of (Richard Childress Racing) and everything that they’ve done over the years with (Dale Earnhardt, Sr.), and with the other drivers that have been there – yeah, it’s been a little quiet lately, but that would be nice to shake that up.”
“I feel like when you’re in the Final Four, it’s like a championship season. You just have to go out and execute in that last race. There are so many things that can go against you in that last race to not let you win a championship, but that’s a title season. That’s where we want to get to and I feel like we can, and we’ll work Phoenix (Raceway) when that time comes.”
It would obviously mean a lot for Busch to bring Richard Childress Racing its first championship since Dale Earnhardt Sr. during the 1994 season. This would be a special accomplishment but one that would not be unexpected due to Busch’s ability as a race car driver.
Austin Hill discusses his decision to re-sign with Richard Childress Racing as the 29-year-old driver seeks his first Xfinity Series title.
It was announced on August 17 that [autotag]Austin Hill[/autotag] had signed a multi-year contract to remain with Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. This came as a surprise due to Hill’s impressive 2023 season with four victories. In fact, the driver of the No. 21 car was linked to Kaulig Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series before the announcement.
Many believed that Hill was ready to make the jump to the Cup Series due to his performances with Richard Childress Racing; however, he decided to stick with the organization that gave him a chance in the Xfinity Series. Hill talked about his decision to re-sign with the race team in an interview reported by Motorsport.com.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of different teams, potentially about going (NASCAR Cup Series) racing and I’ve actually came very close to going Cup racing,” Hill said. “At the end of the day, (Richard Childress) made it pretty tough on me, just because of the man he is and everything that we’ve done last season and this season together.”
“I’m very, very loyal to a fault. There’s a lot of things outside of just driving the race car that this just made sense to me. That’s one of the reasons it made it at the end of the day an easy decision to stay here with (Richard Childress Racing) and to keep building that momentum with them going forward.”
Hill certainly deserved the opportunity to go racing in the Cup Series but it is impossible to blame him for staying with Richard Childress Racing. The No. 21 team appears to be one of the championship favorites and Hill will have a good chance of being at Phoenix Raceway with a shot at lifting the trophy.
Austin Hill has signed a multi-year deal with Richard Childress Racing, which keeps him in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the 2024 season.
[autotag]Austin Hill[/autotag] and [autotag]Richard Childress Racing[/autotag] officially announced a multi-year extension that keeps the driver in the No. 21 Xfinity car for the 2024 NASCAR season. Hill currently leads the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings over Joe Gibbs Racing driver John Hunter Nemechek with four wins, 13 top-5 finishes, and 17 top-10 finishes.
On paper, the Richard Childress Racing driver has been one of the best drivers in the Xfinity Series and will be one of the championship favorites in 2024. Hill was previously linked to Kaulig Racing as the organization is looking to replace Justin Haley in the No. 31 Cup car following his departure to Rick Ware Racing.
NEWS: @_AustinHill has signed a multi-year extension to return to Richard Childress Racing as the driver of the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro SS in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Overall, this seems like a strategic move for Hill when it relates to his future in the NASCAR Cup Series. There aren’t many premium seats available in NASCAR silly season and if there are some open for 2025, Hill could be one of the most pursued drivers in the lower ranks of the sport.
For now, Hill will continue to dominate the Xfinity Series as he pushes for his first NASCAR championship at Phoenix Raceway in November.
Brodie Kostecki is finally getting to live out a dream of competing in a NASCAR race this weekend at Indianapolis, but his initial reaction to the opportunity wasn’t vigorous excitement. “I was actually very scared when I found out I was doing this …
Brodie Kostecki is finally getting to live out a dream of competing in a NASCAR race this weekend at Indianapolis, but his initial reaction to the opportunity wasn’t vigorous excitement.
“I was actually very scared when I found out I was doing this race,” said Kostecki, a regular in Australia’s Supercars series.
The Indianapolis road course was not the cleanest of races for the NASCAR Cup Series in its first two seasons. A tight right-hander into Turn 1 is just too enticing for drivers, which has resulted in contact and carnage. It is what stood out to Kostecki when he began reviewing tape ahead of his debut.
“I went back through the last two years and went to study pretty quickly how the race played out and what it was like into Turn 1,” Kostecki said. “But obviously this weekend has been changed with the restart zone. It was sort of a bit interesting going back through and watching how the races played out, but I honestly think it’ll be quite a bit different with the restart zone.”
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In hopes of cleaning up the first turn, NASCAR has backed the restart zone up this weekend to between Turns 13 and 14. It is before the field makes the turn onto the front straightaway, and it is not required they to stay in line before crossing the start/finish line — which NASCAR hopes means the field will be more spread out before Turn 1.
“I think what we do back home is quite similar in a way,” Kostecki said of the physical nature of Cup Series racing. “There are probably a little bit more rules around our racing back home, but it is pretty similar in a way. I’ll do what I do best and drive the car and see what happens.”
Kostecki has plenty of road racing miles in Supercars with Erebus Motorsport, but knows that for all the similarities, the IMS Cup race will be a different animal. Mark Horsburgh/Motorsport Images
Kostecki is one of two Supercars interlopers in the field this weekend, joining rival Shane van Gisbergen, who won on his Cup debut at Chicago earlier this season. However, Kostecki’s first laps in the Next Gen car came Saturday during practice and qualifying as his only preparation time has been about 13 to 14 hours on the Chevrolet simulator.
“Honestly, there’s a lot of similarities between the Camaro I’m racing today and what I race back home in Australia,” Kostecki said.
Getting a ride in the Cup Series has been two years in the making for Kostecki and Richard Childress Racing. Options had been limited in making the schedule work without conflict, and the two races that stood out were Chicago and Indianapolis.
“With how RCR performed here last year, we circled that one on the calendar quite a while ago,” Kostecki said. “Obviously, what Shane did at Chicago was quite amazing, but I think it’s very different circumstances where this weekend.”
This is not a new infatuation with NASCAR for Kostecki. He is a former competitor of the K&N East (now ARCA Menards) Series and also ran late models in America in the early 2010s. But he’s made a name for himself back home in Australia as one of the most decorated drivers in Supercars competition.
“To get this opportunity with everyone at RCR and Richard [Childress] to come and make my Cup debut, I’ve sort of done a full circle,” Kostecki said, “which is pretty cool.”
Randall Burnett doesn’t think about his string of success until someone points it out. And why not ask him about being one of the winningest crew chiefs in the NASCAR Cup Series over the last 59 races? Burnett of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 8 …
Randall Burnett doesn’t think about his string of success until someone points it out.
And why not ask him about being one of the winningest crew chiefs in the NASCAR Cup Series over the last 59 races? Burnett of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 8 team is tied with Rudy Fugle of Hendrick Motorsports for the most wins by a crew chief in the series since the start of the 2022 season.
Burnett guided Tyler Reddick to three victories last season, including on the Indianapolis road course where the series returns Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC). Three more victories have been added with Kyle Busch.
“It’s cool,” Burnett said. “I’m really fortunate and really blessed to be with such a great group of people and to have some success from them.”
The pairing of Burnett and Busch got off to a fast start with a win in Fontana, the second points race of the season. As the regular season winds down, Burnett’s team has solidified its position in the postseason but believes there is still a lot of room for improvement.
“We don’t have the consistency on a weekly basis that I think we need to be a championship team right now,” Burnett said. “We’re working on that, discussing how to do things better to be a little more consistent and working to get our short track package better. Then we’ve got to clean up some execution things and make less mistakes. Make our days less eventful at times. I feel like we’ve had a lot of really good speed at a lot of places but we’ve kind of put ourselves behind the eight ball.
“In the playoffs, you have to be consistent, you have to be able to score stage points, and you have to be able to compete for wins. And we do that but probably not consistently enough at this point.”
Burnett got his first opportunity as a Cup Series crew chief in 2016 with AJ Allmendinger at JTG Daugherty Racing. It was one year and done for Burnett before he moved to Richard Childress Racing where he oversaw Matt Tifft’s program in the Xfinity Series in 2018 and then won a championship in the series with Reddick in 2019.
Childress moved Burnett and Reddick to the Cup Series together in 2020. It makes this the second stint Burnett has had at the Cup Series level, which is proving to be his most successful.
This interview was condensed for brevity and clarity.
Q: Do you feel like you’ve settled into your place again in the Cup Series garage?
RB: Starting on the Cup side with AJ [Allmendinger], I had a lot of hurdles to overcome, a lot of things to learn. I’d been a race engineer for a long time and definitely switching into the crew chief role, it presents its own challenges. It’s more than just when to pit or what springs you want to run in the car. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into it on a weekly basis, and I had to learn my footing on that. So going back to the Xfinity Series for a few years — I’d always been on the Cup side so I really didn’t know much about an Xfinity car when I went to crew chief one. Fortunately, I had some really good people on me when I first got to working on the Xfinity car. We worked through some things and I think it was a good growing experience for myself to go through some of that on Xfinity side, and then to get the chance to do the Cup side in the right circumstance.
Q: The No. 8 team has grown into a race-winning and playoff-contending race team; what is the difference in navigating being a team at the front of the garage?
RB: Just the little things that go a long way, the details that you have to pay attention to. Everybody in this garage is really good and really experienced and they deserve to be in this garage. The competition’s tight. It’s tough. We’ve got a great team that we’ve been building over the past couple of years, and everybody’s all in; everybody’s bought in and pulls the rope in the right direction and does their part. Nobody ever slacks off and it makes my job easier when it goes that way. I respect all these guys on this team. They’re all a bunch of racers. They all grew up racing. Everybody’s got the same mentality as me — if we don’t win, they’re mad about it and they want to figure out why and they want to work harder to figure out why.
Burnett says it’s the little details that have helped RCR’s No. 8 crew grow into regular contenders, but feels the team still has a way to go with race-to-race consistency. Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images
Q: In addition to attention to details, what does it take to be a crew chief in this garage.
RB: It’s a seven-day-a-week battle. You get there Monday and you’ve got to grind out, get through all your reports and all your debriefs and go over everything that you learned that weekend and try to see what you can take out of it and apply it to the next weekend. The guys that do that and do it regularly are the ones that excel their teams and get their teams better, and are the ones that are battling for championship at the end of the year.
Q: When a new driver comes joins the team, what kind of an adjustment is it for the crew chief?
RB: The first part of it is getting to know each other, just the nuances of each other how we communicate, how we talk about things. Just learning the little details of when he talks about a car, how loose or tight it is in the race, how big of an adjustment he needs depending on his description of it is. When you are with somebody for a long time, you learn those things, and you know what those things are. So when you have a different driver, a new driver, you kind of have to learn those things over.
Fortunately for us, I feel like that transition went pretty well. Kyle drives his car different from say Tyler did last year, so as far as transferring a lot of the setups over, we’re obviously constantly learning about this car so it’s always evolving, and there are different driving styles. It doesn’t necessarily make it as easy to just plug and play setups that we had success with last year. There’s been a little bit of that a little bit of some challenges to overcome with that. But overall, I think our transition went pretty well. I feel like we’ve worked long enough together now — it’s only been half a half season or whatever, but I feel like it went well, and that we’re getting to know each other a little better and know the things that we need to work on.
Q: Are you getting used to being a consistent Cup Series winning crew chief?
RB: Well, certainly it’s more fun that way. We’ve had a lot of talented drivers the past couple of years. Tyler’s an incredible talent and we hated to see him go, but obviously, we got one of the best ever to do it in our car right now. So, we all feel the pressure of that, knowing that we’d better win some races, and we’re doing everything we can with Kyle’s help He’s been great for RCR and brought some good ideas in and some things that we’ve adapted and I feel like it’s helped us.
Q: What does it mean to be involved in getting a Richard Childress Racing car back into the conversation on a weekly basis?
RB: I think (it’s special). Richard has done so much for the sport in general and he deserves to be on top and obviously went through long years of slumps, just not performing at the level that any of us had hoped. So to be able to help guide that back toward where it should be has been great. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that make that happen and I just get to be a small part of it.
Austin Hill survived an early race pit road speeding penalty, gambled on fuel strategy and prevailed in an incredible wheel-to-wheel run to the checkered flag in overtime to claim his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season in the Explore …
Austin Hill survived an early race pit road speeding penalty, gambled on fuel strategy and prevailed in an incredible wheel-to-wheel run to the checkered flag in overtime to claim his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season in the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway on Saturday.
As important as the victory for the 29-year old Georgia-native, his good day combined with an uncharacteristically disappointing day for his closest rivals in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings gave him a huge boost in the points with only seven races remaining to set the 12-driver playoff field. He trailed championship leader John Hunter Nemechek by 33 points before the green flag and took the checkered flag now only 13 behind.
On a dramatic – at times chaotic – overtime restart, Hill had to get around the day’s most dominant driver, JR Motorsports’ Josh Berry. His No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was behind Berry on the restart and gave him a big push at the green flag, but Berry got loose and Hill got around him to lead his first lap on the afternoon.
Both Berry and his JRM teammate Justin Allgaier hit the wall in separate accidents on the final lap bringing out the yellow flag and the race ultimately ended under caution with Hill out front.
“We didn’t have the best car all day,’’ Hill said. “Andy (Petree) and all the guys back at RCR engines worked really hard. We got the car better. I thought we were maybe a top-five or top-seven car. I didn’t think we had anything for the leader today.
“On that restart he drove into one and got really loose into the entry. … We drag raced down the backstretch and once I cleared (Berry) I knew I just had to hit my marks.
“Such a special win,’’ he added. “Obviously with fuel saving, we didn’t know if we were going to make it and it was on my mind going into the Tunnel Turn (Turn 2) that I had to get back to the start/finish line. I had enough fuel to do a burnout so we saved enough.’’
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It was especially heartbreaking for Berry, who dominated all the race’s major statistics. For the first time in his career he swept both stage wins, and he started from pole position for the first time this year, leading a race high 51 of the 92 laps. He finished 24th after his No. 8 JRM Chevrolet trailed up track and into the wall racing Hill — bringing out the final caution that ended the race.
“Just a wild restart there,’’ said Berry, who will take over for retiring NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford next year.
“The No. 21 (Hill) was behind me and gave me a really good push but pushed me a little longer and harder than I wanted into Turn 1 and got me into the marbles. … I was able to battle back and race with him, tried to time the run, but got there a little quicker.
“Just a racing deal.,’’ he added. “Hate we didn’t get the finish we deserved today. Just really proud of the car we brought today and I know if we continue to have that kind of speed we’ll win plenty of races. Just a tough way to end but still a lot of positives from the day.’’
His JR Motorsports teammate Sammy Smith finished second to Hill, followed by former NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, who was competing in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race in two years – driving the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in a paint scheme honoring his team owner Rick Hendrick’s late son, Ricky Hendrick.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst finished fourth, also coming out on the right side of fuel-save gamble. Kaulig Racing’s Daniel Hemric was fifth.
“We finished fourth and that’s what we needed at a track I don’t particularly love,’’ Herbst said. “Lucky to get out of here with a top-five.’’
The effort was good enough to keep Herbst in the points picture for the championship. He is ranked 12th – the final playoff transfer position – 26 points ahead of Parker Kligerman, who finished ninth Saturday.
Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones, Brett Moffitt, Kligerman and another NASCAR Cup Series regular, Daniel Suarez (Kaulig Racing) rounded out the top 10.
A mid-race incident with two of the three championship leaders – Nemechek and third place Cole Custer – changed the complexion on the regular season title chase. On a restart just over halfway through the race – with both Nemechek and Custer running inside the top 10 — Nemechek hit the wall and washed back across the track, his Toyota hitting Custer’s Ford. Custer was third in the championship entering the race.
Both teams made quick repairs to the cars, but they were non-competitive for the remainder of the race. Nemechek finished 32nd and Custer 33rd.
Seven races remain to set the 12-driver championship field. Next week the NASCAR Xfinity Series resumes action Saturday in the Henry 180 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Kyle Busch is one of two NASCAR Cup Series drivers with a series-leading three victories as the summer push to the playoffs begins at Nashville Superspeedway. Busch is sixth in the championship standings and enters Nashville (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET, NBC) …
Kyle Busch is one of two NASCAR Cup Series drivers with a series-leading three victories as the summer push to the playoffs begins at Nashville Superspeedway.
Busch is sixth in the championship standings and enters Nashville (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET, NBC) working on a stretch of four consecutive top-10 finishes. In his first season driving the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, the two-time series champion has merged his style with those already in play with the group led by crew chief Randall Burnett.
In addition to his three wins, Busch is tied with four other drivers for the most top-10 finishes in the series (nine). While he and his team can contend on a near-weekly basis, Busch found it hard to say how close they are to being championship contenders.
“Looking at the last 10 weeks of the schedule, I would say that we feel pretty confident about how we can go about those weeks and those races,” Busch said Friday. “The only one that you kind of circle right now – maybe two – is obviously Bristol and Martinsville with the short track package and us not being great with that. But the rest of the races I’m actually looking forward to; I feel like there is an even slate there for us to be as good as we’ve been this year and go out there and score good strong runs.”
Busch finished eighth at Phoenix Raceway, 14th at Richmond Raceway, and 21st at Martinsville Speedway with the short track aero package. In the non-points All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, which used the same package, he was never a contender and was so far off the pace was lapped by the dominant Kyle Larson.
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The final 10 races comprise the postseason and have the two proper short-track races Busch mentioned (Bristol and Martinsville). Phoenix does use the short-track package. There are five intermediate races, a superspeedway (Talladega), and the Charlotte road course. Busch won at Talladega earlier this year and finished second in the two road course races (Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma).
“So, championship caliber team? I would say our guys are super good at building some really good cars. We’ve had some really good stuff,” Busch continued. “The job that each member on the team has been doing has been top-notch. I get in the car, all my stuff’s there, the windshield tear-offs are right, the blackout is good. Details.
“It comes down to the details and so, to me, from what I can tell, it’s where we need to be. Praises to them, and I’m looking forward to racing out the rest of the year with the way that we’ve had our start.”
There have been 10 different winners through 16 races, and 10 races remain in the regular season. Busch hasn’t seen any one driver or team that has stood out or separated themselves from the field as far as being the leading championship contender.
“Honestly, last year the No. 22 (Joey Logano) won the championship, and he came out of nowhere,” Busch explained. “They were terrible through the summer, and it kind of looks the same right now. So, anything can happen.
“That’s why it’s hard for me to answer that question: are you a championship-caliber team? Well, yeah, but I think there are probably 12 others. There are a lot more unknowns with the Next Gen car and how you go to these racetracks and with just how sporadic finishes can be and people running into each other. You think somebody is going to go out and win a race and they get wrecked, and then somebody else does that’s a surprise winner.
“You just never know. You just got to play it out.”
Kyle Busch would have liked a little more with his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway but a second-place finish was the best result behind the dominant Martin Truex Jr. “I tried really hard at the end to at …
Kyle Busch would have liked a little more with his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway but a second-place finish was the best result behind the dominant Martin Truex Jr.
“I tried really hard at the end to at least try to keep Martin honest,” Busch said. “Felt like I could beat him a little bit on a lap, then I would mess up. He would beat me by a little bit more on the next lap. We were just kind of trading a little bit there. He was able to pull away there late.”
Busch moved to second as Truex took the lead with 14 laps to go in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. But Busch was never able to mount a serious challenge on Truex for the victory.
“Great job by all the guys on this Mclaren Grills Camaro; just proud of the effort,” said Busch. “We gave it everything that we had. We made a lot of changes. We got a lucky break there with a yellow with only three laps on tires, so we were able to kind of cycle to the front.
“Once we got up there, we could maintain pace with some of the good cars and have a good top three speed race car. Just kind of flip-flopped the race a little bit. Good fortunes for us. Nice to come out here with a P2 after a win last week.”
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Busch won the second stage of Sunday’s race and led 33 laps. The result is Busch’s seventh top-10 finish in the last eight Sonoma races.
On the season, Busch went to Sonoma off his third victory in the Cup Series. He’s finished no worse than seventh in the last four races.
“I don’t know if I want an off week. Let’s go, right?” Busch said. “We’re rolling right now. It would be a good break for everybody to kind of regroup and refocus and set in for the last 18 in a row.
“All in all, just real proud of the guys and the communication and the way they’re able to go to work and kind of work through some of our issues and try to improve on what I need to be able to feel in a race car to be able to put out finishes like that. If we can keep doing those things, we’ll be a force.”
