USA TODAY International Edition
Busch lacks speed but still has shot
Kurt Busch and crew chief Tony Gibson would have preferred a swift Chevrolet and a wonderfully uneventful cruise to victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Not even close.
But a plucky eighth- place finish in a dinged and sluggish No. 41 Chevy was close enough, especially considering the predicament several other title- eligible drivers found themselves in after the Round 2 opener of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Now Busch will begin the second race of this Chase segment from the back at Kansas Speedway on Sunday after being forced to switch to a backup car.
Busch, who is fifth in the standings, 21 points ahead of the eighth- place cut- off, mashed the front of his car sliding into the apron in the final moments of the last practice when a right front tire failed. He had been thirdfasted in the practice. Busch had qualified 15th.
Entering Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 ( 2: 15 p. m. ET, NBC), the 2004 series champion had seen a reset opportunity while contenders such as Stewart- Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick and Team Penske’s Joey Logano must recoup points.
Considering the handling of his car at the start and his involvement in a late restart incident that claimed title contenders Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon and damaged the cars of others such as Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch was in a conciliatory mood on pit road at Charlotte.
“We went through a lot today,” he said. “The restart, I guess we survived it better than most when everybody had that trouble. We just missed on the setup on the first five laps, and then after 30 laps, man, she would just go away. So we got what we could out of it, and all in all an eighth- place finish. Guys had trouble. It’s one of those days when you just go, ‘ All right, we’ll take it.’
“You know, it’s not the best, but that’s a finish we need to advance through this Chase.”
Staying out of the way might be enough for Busch for the rest of this round, as he has a 21- point edge on the eighth and final transfer spot held by Denny Hamlin, who had a strong run that was undone by a blown engine last weekend.
Though Busch finished second in the Kansas fall race in 2013, was third there this spring and is arguably the best restrictor- plate racer in the sport without a points win at Talladega Superspeedway ( site of next weekend’s race) or Daytona International Speedway, Gibson asserts how quickly points and positions become vapor.
He’d rather remain inconspicuous and workmanlike.
“Talladega is always going to be the key race, no matter where you’re at unless you win or have a race lead,” Gibson said. “You’re going to be nervous going in there. You just try to build as much points as you can going into that race and hope you don’t have to race for the win, because if you do, it means you’ve got to put yourself in dangerous situations that you don’t want to be in.
“Hopefully we can go to Kansas and have another solid top- 10 day and run good and have somewhat of a cushion going into Talladega. But plans don’t always go the way they’re supposed to in this business.”
They didn’t at Charlotte. Pitting next to Danica Patrick, Busch found himself dealing with his teammate numerous times as she ran inside the top 15. The restart crash created body damage, Gibson said, that skewed the car’s handling.
“I think it ( was a good finish), considering we had damage and we had to fix our car and it was beat up pretty good,” Gibson noted. “We were really tight after that. So at that point, yeah, it’s just OK. We don’t want to put ourselves where those guys are at: in trouble. It was maintaining.”
While Busch was content with the finish, he’s not comfortable with his position in the standings, saying, “It’s all wide open, still.”
Busch and Gibson likely would feel better if their car was yielding the type of speed it was demonstrating at this point a year ago — when Busch finished fifth, sixth and 10th in the second round to advance.
That apparently will be a key part of maintaining title hopes. That, Gibson said, should help his team focus where it should: inward.
“We still just worry about us, man,” he said.