Kyle Busch Returns to Victory Lane

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Kyle Busch won the Toyota-Save Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday.

Photo courtesy Jonathan Moore/Getty Images

Busch picked up his first victory of the season on Sunday.  Busch missed the first 11 races of the season with an ankle injury after crashing in the first Xfinity Series race in February.

“This is awesome,” Busch said.  “I can’t say enough about my team…everyone that got me back in shape and got me back ready to go.”

Busch’s victory makes him eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but he still has to make the top 30 in driver points.  Busch left Sonoma 37th in points, still needing an average finish of 13th or better over the remaining 10 races before the Chase cutoff.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us, we knew we did in the beginning,” Busch said.  “It’s unfortunate that we had a couple crashes and I hate it for my guys…they don’t deserve to be in that spot.”

Many in the NASCAR community were worried that Sonoma’s twists and turns, which require substantial braking, would aggravate Busch’s foot injury.  Busch said there was nothing to worry about.

“My foot hurts a little bit, but not as bad as I expected it to,” Busch said.  “It actually hurt worse in practice, I think I warmed it up all day Friday.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Kurt Busch

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Joey Logano

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

8. Kasey Kahne

9. Ryan Newman

10. Sam Hornish Jr.

11. Jamie McMurray

12. Tony Stewart

13. Paul Menard

14. Aric Almirola

15. Kyle Larson

16. Jeff Gordon

17. Austin Dillon

18. Denny Hamlin

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Matt Kenseth

22. Cole Whitt

23. Trevor Bayne

24. Danica Patrick

25. Alex Kennedy

26. Boris Said

27. Greg Biffle

28. Josh Wise

29. Matt DiBenedetto

30. Justin Marks

31. Alex Bowman

32. Jeb Burton

33. Michael Annett

34. Michael McDowell

35. Justin Allgaier

36. Landon Cassill

37. AJ Allmendinger

38. Casey Mears

39. David Ragan

40. Carl Edwards

41. J.J. Yeley

42. Martin Truex Jr.

43. David Gilliland

Photo courtesy Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images