Fired-up Kyle Busch captures pole
DOVER, Del. — Kyle Busch may be ornery and he may be controversial, but there is no debate he is one of the best in NASCAR — mic drop and all.
Busch turned a lap of 158.954 mph Friday to win the pole at Dover International Speedway as he tries to drive the No. 18 Toyota to victory lane for the first time this season.
He has three straight top-five finishes and was runner-up to Austin Dillon last week in the Coca-Cola 600. But that near miss has gnawed at Busch, who won the All-Star race and then lost the spotlight at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Asked about Dillon’s win, Busch gruffly replied, “I’m not surprised about anything. Congratulations.” With no more questions, he dropped the microphone and left, his conduct quickly parodied and criticized.
Busch was angry. And after years of trying to convince the public he had rehabbed his tempestuous image, the 32-year-old married father of one son realized he may never change.
“Certainly, different people show their emotion in different ways and unfortunately for me, mine has never been very gracious and I don’t know that it ever will be,” Busch said. “I’m kind of learning that as the days go on when my son (Brexton) is 2 years old; I see where it came from. It’s genetic. I’m sorry. That’s just who I am. That’s what I was given. If there was anyone to blame it’s probably the guy upstairs. I can probably get better and go to training and classes and everything else, but I don’t know. It is the way it is.”
Busch has a resume NASCAR Hall of Famers would envy, with a NASCAR championship, 173 wins over three series and an elite ride for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Just no wins this season, and he’s not alone at JGR. Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and rookie Daniel Suarez are also winless, a startling skid for one of NASCAR’s heavyweight organizations that could end at Dover.
Led by Busch, Toyota had the first four drivers Friday in the qualifying session. Martin Truex Jr. was second, followed by Suarez and Kenseth. Erik Jones was seventh and Hamlin was 10th to give Toyota six of the top 10.
Busch’s terse response made waves but the top story inside the JGR shop was how to build off its best race of the season. Busch was there at the end, and Kenseth finished fourth and Hamlin fifth to place three drivers inside the top five for the first time this season. Suarez, who replaced Carl Edwards, was a solid 11th.
Busch also earned a needed boost with a win two weeks ago in the $1 million All-Star race.
“There were a lot of things on the line that meant a lot to me and would have been special to me, but I guess I should care less about those sort of things and not show that sort of emotion,” he said.
JGR won seven of the first 12 races last season and Carl Edwards was 10 laps away from a possible championship when he crashed out in the finale.
A four-time winner last season, Busch has gone a whopping 28 races without a Cup victory dating to the Brickyard 400. His only wins on the concrete mile track at Dover came in 2008 and 2010. Busch, with three wins at this point last year, was second in at least one of the two Dover races the last two seasons.