(Photo: Aaron Brink | The Podium Finish)
SONOMA, Calif. — Kyle Busch gained track position midway through Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 by staying out during a caution and kept it the rest of the race to finish second.
Busch pitted for service on Lap 43 of 110, but just a few laps later, a tire rolled out of a pit box and onto pit road to cause the first caution of the race. The remaining cars on the lead lap pitted while Busch stayed out to take the lead. Busch’s strategy led to a Stage 2 victory two laps after the restarts, but he couldn’t hold off Martin Truex Jr.
Truex restarted 10th ahead of all the cars that pitted and drove through the field, snatching the lead from his former teammate on Lap 69. Busch never led again as Truex paced nearly every remaining lap en route to his second win of the season.
All things considered, Busch was satisfied with his run a week removed from a victory at WWT Raceway.
“Not too bad of a day for the No. 8 McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team at Sonoma Raceway, I just wish we had a little bit more,” Busch said after the race. “I tried hard to keep Martin Truex Jr. honest. I felt like I could beat him a little on a lap, and then I would mess up and he would beat me by more on the next lap. We were trading a little bit, but he was able to pull away late.
“We got a lucky break with the yellow with only three laps on tires. We were able to cycle to the front. Once we got up there, we could maintain pace with some of the good cars and had a good top-three-speed race car. Good fortunes for us, and it’s nice to come out here with a second-place finish after a win last week.”
(Photo: Aaron Brink | The Podium Finish)
Midway through his first season with Richard Childress Racing, Busch has three victories, tying William Byron for the most in the series. He sits sixth in driver’s points and just 29 points behind Truex, the new leader.
With 10 races remaining in the regular season, Busch has found his stride. He’s finished in the top 10 in each of the last four races and has an average finish of 12.1 in 2023.
Busch goes into the off-week with momentum, but he said he’d almost rather forgo a free weekend. He feels his No. 8 team is shaping up as championship-caliber.
“We have three wins at this point in the season, and this team is really stringing together some good runs, so I don’t know if I want an off week,” Busch said. “It will be good to regroup, focus and set up for the last [20] races of the season, though.
“Overall, I’m just really proud of the guys on this team, the communication, and the way they are able to go to work, work through some of our issues and try to improve on what I need to be able to feel in a race car and pull out finishes like the one we had today. If we can keep doing those things, we will be a force for the championship.”
The Cup Series returns on June 25 at Nashville Superspeedway.
