Kurt Busch Wins at Kansas for First Victory with Michael Jordan

Kurt Busch won the AdventHealth 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first win with 23XI Racing.

Busch led a race-high 116 laps and won the second stage of the race. Busch has struggled early in the season, but was finally able to put a strong race together in his Jumpman-sponsored Toyota Camry.

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Busch said his team has been working to improve from the early-season struggles.

“It’s all about teamwork,” Busch said.  “This is 23XI, this is our first win for the 45 car and with Jordan brand on the hood. I felt like I had to play like the goat, race like the goat, and I had to beat the Kyles.”

Busch was part of a trio that fought for the lead over the final run, with Kyle Larson and brother Kyle Busch fighting for the lead.

Busch said once he got past his brother, he knew he’d be able to chase down Larson.

“If I could get one Kyle, I could get both. It’s like the Kyle and Kyle Show.”

“I’ve been with a lot of teams and a lot of manufacturers. It’s the most gratifying to work from the ground up with a new car number.”

Larson had a strong car throughout the day, but said he knew he’d be able to hold off anyone other than Kurt Busch.

“It was hard to hold off Kyle, and I knew when Kurt got by him it was going to be hard to hold him off. I did my best, but came up one spot short. That was fun racing.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kurt Busch

2. Kyle Larson

3. Kyle Busch

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Christopher Bell

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Ross Chastain

8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

9. Alex Bowman

10. Bubba Wallace

11. Austin Cindric

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Austin Dillon

14. Brad Keselowski

15. Kevin Harvick

16. William Byron

17. Joey Logano

18. Noah Gragson

19. Corey LaJoie

20. Ty Dillon

21. Harrison Burton

22. Cole Custer

23. Michael McDowell

24. Chase Briscoe

25. Todd Gilliland

26. Aric Almirola

27. Chris Buescher

28. Josh Bilicki

29. Chase Elliott

30. Tyler Reddick

31. JJ Yeley

32. Erik Jones

33. Daniel Suarez

34. Cody Ware

35. Justin Haley

36. BJ McLeod

 

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Bowman Steals Victory in Las Vegas

Alex Bowman won the Pennzoil 400 from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Bowman ran inside the Top 10 for most of the race, but he wasn’t a factor at the front until the very last restart.  Bowman restarted on the front row after he took two tires on the final pit stop before overtime.

Bowman raced side-by-side with teammate Kyle Larson over the final two laps, and he was able to come away with his first win of the season after pulling ahead of his teammate on the final lap.

Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Bowman said his car was fast throughout the race, but that he didn’t have the track position to show off the cars’ capabilities.

“What a call by [crew chief] Greg Ives and the guys to take two there; obviously it paid off,” Bowman said.  “This thing was fast all day. Just never really had the track position we needed to show it.”

Kyle Busch fought with his teammate Martin Truex Jr. over the final 40 laps as the two drivers dueled for the lead.  Busch held the lead when the final caution of the day came out for an incident involving Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace.

Busch was the first driver who took four tires on the final pit stop, but he didn’t have enough laps to contend for the victory and settled for a 4th-place finish.

Busch wrecked in qualifying on Saturday, and his team spent the rest of the day building the backup car to make it race-ready.

Busch said all four Joe Gibbs Racing teams came together to build him the car that drove from the back to the front.

“True testament to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Busch said.  “Really appreciate…my guys, but also the 11, 19 and 20. Everybody had a hand in helping make us go today, so really appreciate that.”

“We were fast at the end and just trying to do what I could to hold the lead there with Truex.  Wasn’t meant to be, not our day.”

Unofficial results:

1. Alex Bowman

2. Kyle Larson

3. Ross Chastain

4. Kyle Busch

5. William Byron

6. Aric Almirola

7. Tyler Reddick

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Chase Elliott

10. Christopher Bell

11. Austin Dillon

12. Kevin Harvick

13. Kurt Busch

14. Joey Logano

15. Corey LaJoie

16. Harrison Burton

17. Justin Haley

18. Chris Buescher

19. Austin Cindric

20. Ty Dillon

21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

22. Daniel Hemric

23. Todd Gilliland

24. Brad Keselowski

25. Bubba Wallace

26. Cody Ware

27. Michael McDowell

28. BJ McLeod

29. Josh Bilicki

30. Garrett Smithley

31. Erik Jones

32. Denny Hamlin

33. Cole Custer

34. Greg Biffle

35. Chase Briscoe

36. Ryan Blaney

37. Daniel Suarez

Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Joey Logano Wins The Clash from the LA Coliseum

 Joey Logano won the Busch Light Clash on Sunday afternoon from the LA Coliseum.

The season-opening exhibition race was hyped up for months, as it was the debut of NASCAR’s Next Gen car.  Held at a track other than the Daytona International Speedway for the first time, the race was run on a 1/4 mile track in the LA Coliseum that was built in less than two months. 

Logano echoed many who were part of the race when he said this event was a win for NASCAR.

“This is an amazing event,” Logano said.  “Such a huge step in our industry to be able to do this.  Put on an amazing race for everybody.”

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Kyle Busch was dominant throughout the weekend, and won the pole and his qualifying heat.  After leading the most laps, Busch lost the lead to Logano on a late restart and wasn’t able to get back to the front to challenge for the lead.

Logano said his team found speed overnight after struggling in practice.

“The guys working on the car did an amazing job to find our speed,” Logano said.  “This is special; to get the first Next Gen win, first win out here at the Coliseum.  It’s a special one.”

Busch said he used up his equipment trying to catch back up to Logano with the laps winding down.

“I was being perfect, doing everything I thought I needed to do to keep the tires underneath me,” Busch said.  “When I got close…just overheated the tires and smoked them in three laps.”

“Disappointing…came out here, win the pole, lead laps, run up front.  The finish goes green and it’s not chaotic and we can’t win.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Kyle Busch

3. Austin Dillon

4. Erik Jones

5. Kyle Larson

6. William Byron

7. Cole Custer

8. Christopher Bell

9. AJ Allmendinger

10. Kevin Harvick

11. Chase Elliott

12. Harrison Burton

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

14. Daniel Suarez

15. Martin Truex Jr.

16. Michael McDowell

17. Ryan Blaney

18. Bubba Wallace

19. Justin Haley

20. Ryan Preece

21. Tyler Reddick

22. Chase Briscoe

23. Denny Hamlin

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Kurt Busch Wins, Busch Brothers Duel in Atlanta

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kurt Busch won the Quaker State 400 from Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first win of the season and lock himself into the Playoffs.

It was a dominant performance by both Busch brothers, as Kurt and Kyle combined to lead 235 of 260 laps.

Kurt led a race-high 144 laps, but he found himself behind his brother following the final green-flag pit stop.  It looked as thought Kyle would run away with the victory, but he struggled to get through lapped traffic.

Ross Chastain, Kurt’s teammate, was able to hold Kyle up through Turn 4.  Kurt took the lead for good and was able to hold off Kyle to pick up the victory.

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Kurt said he enjoyed winning on Atlanta’s old surface one last time before a repave begins in the coming weeks.

“What a genuine, awesome, old-school racetrack,” Kurt said.  “I just asked the track today, ‘last time today on your old asphalt if I could have an old guy win.’”

The victory locks Kurt into the Playoffs and moves him off of the cutline.

Kurt said he was glad to get a victory during a season where they haven’t had the fastest car every weekend.

“This has been one of those years,” Kurt said.  “I knew we’d have our back up against the wall with trying to get above the cutoff line and race hard and race smart.”

Kyle said the handling went away on his car as the final run went on, and that allowed his brother to pull away.

“We just didn’t have enough front end with laps on tires,” Kyle said.  “Had everything I had there early, then just smoked it behind the 42 [of Chastain].”

“Had one valiant effort off of 2, but just didn’t have enough momentum to drag him down and make him go high in 3 and 4.  After that, the tires were smoked.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kurt Busch

2. Kyle Busch

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Alex Bowman

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Chase Elliott

8. Christopher Bell

9. Matt DiBenedetto

10. Brad Keselowski

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Austin Dillon

13. Denny Hamlin

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Chase Briscoe

16. Chris Buescher

17. Cole Custer

18. Kyle Larson

19. Joey Logano

20. William Byron

21. Ross Chastain

22. Corey LaJoie

23. Aric Almirola

24. Erik Jones

25. Ryan Preece

26. Anthony Alfredo

27. Michael McDowell

28. Ryan Newman

29. Justin Haley

30. BJ McLeod

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Bayley Currey

33. Cody Ware

34. Josh Bilicki

35. Quin Houff

36. Daniel Suarez

37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Busch Saves Enough Fuel to Win at Pocono

Kyle Busch won the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 from Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon in the second race of the Pocono doubleheader.

Busch persevered through numerous struggles with his car throughout the race. In the second stage, Busch’s transmission got stuck in fourth gear and they lost the clutch.  That caused Busch to struggle getting on and off pit road along with restart issues.

While the team attempted to fix the issues, Busch pitted a lap later than the rest of the leaders.  Fuel became an issue over the final run, and Busch inherited the lead when William Byron and Denny Hamlin ran out of gas.

James Gilbert/Getty Images

Busch said he didn’t think he could win after struggling with the shifter all day.

“Just playing the strategy the best we could with what was given to us,” Busch said.  “I still felt like we had the fastest car even though we were in the back and behind.”

Busch said the biggest struggle throughout the race was getting caught back up to the field before the restarts with his car unable to accelerate properly.

“Trying to time the restart right,” Busch said.  “Leave pit road and then come back around and be at full speed by the time the field takes the start/finish line.  We were a little bit off on that.”

Kyle Larson finished second on Sunday, and said the difference may have been Busch’s late pit stop.

“I thought [Busch] was going to run out,” Larson said.  “I saw [Denny Hamlin] run out and…they’re teammates.  I guess the 18 did pit a lap after us under caution, so that actually probably won them the race.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Kyle Larson

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Bubba Wallace

6. Ryan Blaney

7. Alex Bowman

8. Ryan Preece

9. Tyler Reddick

10. Joey Logano

11. Martin Truex Jr.

12. William Byron

13. Austin Dillon

14. Denny Hamlin

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Aric Almirola

17. Michael McDowell

18. Matt DiBenedetto

19. Chris Buescher

20. Kurt Busch

21. Chase Briscoe

22. Ryan Newman

23. Corey LaJoie

24. Cole Custer

25. Justin Allgaier

26. Ross Chastain

27. Chase Elliott

28. Cody Ware

29. BJ McLeod

30. James Davison

31. Erik Jones

32. Christopher Bell

33. Quin Houff

34. Anthony Alfredo

35. Josh Bilicki

36. Garrett Smithley

37. Timmy Hill

38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

James Gilbert/Getty Images

Kyle Busch Caps Off Emotional Week with Kansas Victory

Kyle Busch won the Busch Light Buschy McBusch Race 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Busch ran up front for most of the day, and he and Kyle Larson were the class of the field as the laps wound down.

Busch was the leader when a late caution came out, and he held off the field on the final restart to pick up his first victory of 2021.

James Gilbert/Getty Images

Busch didn’t win until late in 2020, and he said he’s glad his team could get to victory lane early this season.

“It’s cool to get everybody in victory lane again this early in the season,” Busch said.  “It’s hard sometimes…there’s a sense of doubt there for sure.  You’ve got to keep persevering and keep digging.”

The victory came on Busch’s 36^th birthday, and came at the end of an emotional week.  On Friday, Busch and his wife Samantha announced that they had suffered another miscarriage, another setback in their infertility journey.

Busch said it was a tough week for his family.

“You talk about the ups and downs of racing…it’s been a lot of downs of life for us,” Busch said.  “I’ve got a great opportunity and a great job…but struggling with infertility and stuff like that with Samantha.  Just a great day to put this M&M’s Mix Camry up front.”

Larson led a race-high 132 laps, but he lost the lead following a few late cautions.

With the field taking the green flag with two laps remaining, Larson committed to pushing Ryan Blaney to give both drivers a chance at the win.  Larson and Blaney got loose and into the wall, and Larson ended up 19^th.

Larson said he was trying to do all he could to give himself a shot at the win.

“Just planned on pushing Blaney as hard as I could, obviously I was just pushing too hard.” Larson said.  “Got him loose and chased ourselves both up into the wall.”

“That’s really the first time I was behind anybody on a restart, so I thought I could push around the corner.  I learned for next time.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Matt DiBenedetto

5. Chase Elliott

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Tyler Reddick

8. Chris Buescher

9. William Byron

10. Austin Dillon

11. Daniel Suarez

12. Denny Hamlin

13. Michael McDowell

14. Ross Chastain

15. Kurt Busch

16. Ryan Newman

17. Joey Logano

18. Alex Bowman

19. Kyle Larson

20. Chase Briscoe

21. Ryan Blaney

22. Austin Cindric

23. Anthony Alfredo

24. Cole Custer

25. Erik Jones

26. Bubba Wallace

27. Corey LaJoie

28. Christopher Bell

29. Aric Almirola

30. Justin Haley

31. BJ McLeod

32. Ryan Preece

33. Garrett Smithley

34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

35. Joey Gase

36. Cody Ware

37. Quin Houff

38. Matt Mills

39. Josh Bilicki

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Kyle Busch Kicks Off Season with Busch Clash Victory

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the season-opening Busch Clash from Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday night to kick off the 2021 NASCAR season.

The Busch Clash, the customary non-points race that begins NASCAR’s season every year, was run on Daytona’s road course for the first time.

Busch was running a distant third when the field took the white flag, but he was able to take the lead coming out of the final corner after Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney got together racing for the win. 

Busch, in his first race with a new crew chief after a single-win season in 2020, said he hopes the two can continue to grow their relationship as Busch hunts for his third Cup championship.

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

“Can’t say enough about Ben Beshore and this whole M&M’s team,” Busch said.  “I’ve been through a couple crew chiefs, and it always seems to go well for a little while and then it fizzles out.”

After the COVID pandemic caused NASCAR to change the 2020 schedule multiple times, NASCAR raced on the Daytona road course for the first time last August.  Now officially the second race of the season, Busch said his team looked at this as a test session for the points-paying event in two weeks.

“We had a great car here tonight,” Busch said.  “We worked a lot over the winter time and focusing on what we can do in this race to know what we needed to get better for race number two, coming up in two weeks.”

Elliott and Blaney, known as two of the closest friends in the garage, had fast cars throughout the night but got together racing for the lead in the final chicane coming to the checkered flag.

Elliott said it was a move he had to try with a win in sight.

“I can’t be sorry for going for the win, but certainly didn’t mean to wreck him,” Elliott said.  “Neither one of us won; that’s the big thing.  You’ve got to go for it here in an event like this.”

Blaney, who had fresher tires over the final run, said he had to use up more of his car than he’d hoped while he chased Elliott down in the final laps.

“We were just racing hard and I had a little bit fresher tires there,” Blaney said.  “I tried to protect and drove in the last corner really deep to try to make sure I didn’t get dive-bombed like that.  Learned something for next week…and excited to get to the [Daytona] 500 this Sunday.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Chase Elliott

3. Joey Logano

4. Tyler Reddick

5. William Byron

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Alex Bowman

8. Erik Jones

9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

10. Matt DiBenedetto

11. Austin Dillon

12. Aric Almirola

13. Ryan Blaney

14. Ryan Newman

15. Kevin Harvick

16. Chris Buescher

17. Brad Keselowski

18. Ty Dillon

19. Kurt Busch

20. Cole Custer

21. Martin Truex Jr.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Busch Finally Wins During Wet Texas Weekend

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the Autotrader EchoPark 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Wednesday afternoon to pick up his first win of 2020.

Busch had to wait a few days to pick up his first victory of the year, as a consistent mist stayed in the Fort Worth area for three days.  The race began on Sunday afternoon, but was red-flagged after just 51 laps, and did not resume until Wednesday afternoon.

Busch used pit strategy to get to the front, and he was able to use fuel mileage to get the victory.  After pitting before the rest of the field, Busch had to save fuel over the final 60-lap run.  He was able to save enough to hold off his teammate Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps.

Busch said he had to work hard over the final run to keep his fuel mileage right on the numbers.

“Kept getting great leadership and mentoring from [Crew Chief Adam Stevens],” Busch said.  “Just kept talking to me, reminding me about saving and being able to do what I could.  Trying to stay in the draft as much as I could on the straightaways.”

Busch, who was eliminated from the Playoffs at the end of the last round, extended his streak of consecutive years with a victory to 16 with his win on Wednesday.

Busch said he believes his team is set up to contend again next year.

“This one means a lot just to keep the 16 going,” Busch said.  “Everyone thought we were duds, but we don’t give up.  We’re ready to fight next year; we’ll be back.”

Truex came into Texas needing a win to advance to the final round of the Playoffs, but came up one spot short.

Now Truex has one more chance to race for a championship at Phoenix, and he said he believes he can contend at Martinsville to lock himself in.

“Excited about Martinsville; I know we can win there,” Truex said.  “Seems like one of those years where we’re just second, third, fourth…we’re right there a lot, but we just needed a little bit more to be better.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Christopher Bell

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Alex Bowman

6. Brad Keselowski

7. Kurt Busch

8. Matt DiBenedetto

9. Denny Hamlin

10. Joey Logano

11. Austin Dillon

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13. William Byron

14. Cole Custer

15. Tyler Reddick

16. Kevin Harvick

17. Clint Bowyer

18. Ryan Preece

19. Ryan Newman

20. Chase Elliott

21. Erik Jones

22. John Hunter Nemechek

23. Aric Almirola

24. Ty Dillon

25. Corey LaJoie

26. Michael McDowell

27. Daniel Suarez

28. Brennan Poole

29. Josh Bilicki

30. Timmy Hill

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Reed Sorenson

33. Quin Houff

34. Chris Buescher

35. Chad Finchum

36. Jimmie Johnson

37. Joey Gase

38. Bubba Wallace

39. Matt Kenseth

40. JJ Yeley

Photos courtesy Jared C. Tilton and Chris Graythen (Getty Images)

Elliott Ends Round of 12 with Roval Victory

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the Bank of America ROVAL 400 from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course to win his fourth-straight road course race.

Elliott was a favorite going into the race after winning last year’s event at the Roval, and he was able to pull away from the field on a late restart to pick up his third victory of the year.

Already in a good position to make the next round of the Playoffs, Elliott was able to lock himself into the next round with the victory and pick up five additional Playoff Points for the next round.

Elliott said he wasn’t focused on his points position heading into the Round of 12 finale.

“I feel like you start playing the points game and you can get yourself in trouble,” Elliott said.  “Best way to get to the next round is to win, so hopefully we can do something with it.”

Elliott had a dominant car in 2019, and drove up through the field after an accident while leading. 

This year, Elliott said his team brought an even better car than the one he took to victory lane last year.

“I tweaked on some small things and got a little better than what I was here last year, which was good,” Elliott said.  “I feel like road courses have been fortunate to us the last few trips.”

The race saw the bottom four drivers eliminated from Playoff contention.  Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola each saw their championship hopes come to an end.

Busch, the reigning Cup Series Champion, said his team just continued to be off throughout the Playoffs like they had been during the year.

“Nothing’s played out or has been on our side,” Busch said.  “Terrible year for me, but as other sports greats would say, there’s many other drivers that would love to have a year that we’re having.”

“I knew this round was going to be trouble with the year that we had, and I was right.”

Unofficial results:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Joey Logano

3. Erik Jones

4. Kurt Busch

5. Ryan Blaney

6. William Byron

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Alex Bowman

9. Cole Custer

10. Clint Bowyer

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Tyler Reddick

13. Jimmie Johnson

14. Ryan Preece

15. Denny Hamlin

16. Aric Almirola

17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Austin Dillon

20. Chris Buescher

21. Bubba Wallace

22. Matt DiBenedetto

23. Ty Dillon

24. Christopher Bell

25. Daniel Suarez

26. Gray Gaulding

27. Corey LaJoie

28. Quin Houff

29. James Davison

30. Kyle Busch

31. Ryan Newman

32. Michael McDowell

33. Josh Bilicki

34. Matt Kenseth

35. JJ Yeley

36. John Hunter Nemechek

37. Brennan Poole

38. Timmy Hill

Photos courtesy Jared C. Tilton (Getty Images)