Kyle Busch turns a corner during the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course. (Photo: Kevin Bowman | The Podium Finish)
CHICAGO — For Kyle Busch, NASCAR’s third time around the streets of Chicago was eventful to say the least, but it was the first time Rowdy and his No. 8 RCR team showed race-winning speed in several months.
The weekend in Grant Park started on a high note for Busch as he qualified in the sixth position for the Grant Park 165. From the drop of the green flag, the 40-year-old veteran driver had moved himself inside the top three, following the likes of Shane Van Gisbergen and Michael McDowell.
Busch did not have the speed to keep up with those two road course aces, but he had the pace in his Slurpee Chevrolet to stay ahead of drivers such as Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe.
At the conclusion of Stage 1, Busch secured nine crucial points by finishing in the second position, but Rowdy had only one goal in mind: a shot at the checkered flag and a victory to snap an over two-year winless streak.
Busch, along with McDowell and others, decided to stay out and attempt a one stop strategy. At first, the strategy worked as planned for Busch, as he had only fallen back a few positions throughout the beginning laps of Stage 2, but that was when the two-time champion’s day took a total U-turn.
On Lap 33, Busch was running alongside Ryan Blaney heading into Turn 7 when the No. 8 machine lost all grip and went for a spin that put Rowdy out of the show. Luckily for Busch, he kept his car out of the tire barriers and eventually rejoined the field. However, the bad luck was not yet over for the RCR group.
When Busch came down pit road on Lap 37 to make his only scheduled service of the day, Busch was penalized for driving through too many pit boxes when leaving his stall, forcing the No. 8 to come down pit road again to serve that penalty, putting the RCR team a lap down.
Kyle Busch (front) battles with Tyler Reddick (back) entering Turn 1 during the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course. (Photo: Daniel Bartel | Imagn Images)
Busch was able to regain his lap by the end of Stage 2, but he needed to drive through the field in order to finish with a decent result. For Rowdy, that was no problem.
Busch slowly moved his way back inside the top 15, methodically finding his way around traffic with the top five speed his No. 8 machine had shown earlier. With 10 laps remaining, Busch was running around 15th place when the field was stacked up for one final restart. Busch had a swift and effective tire advantage compared to his competitors ahead of him, and he made quick work to move himself back into the top five.
When a dominant Shane Van Gisbergen was the first to see the checkered flag, Busch was able to rebound and finish fifth, the first top five result the No.8 team had seen since COTA earlier in the spring.
“The guys did a great job being able to rally from that spin that we had earlier. We just tried to stay out too long on tires, and we didn’t have enough left rear grip with our Slurpee machine,” Busch said in his post-race comments with TNT.
“We were able to get some tires on it there at the end and carry our Chevrolet forward. So, we’re proud of the effort in being able to get a top five and just get some base hits and just get a good shot in the arm here to start the summer. Hopefully we’ll get some more (top fives) and put ourselves more on-base in order to go out there and get a win.”
This top five is only the second on the season for the RCR No. 8 camp, so if there was any way to find momentum for the veteran driver and his team, that was the way to do it.
The 63-time NASCAR Cup Series winner out of Las Vegas, Nevada will be back on track next weekend, visiting a track that has treated him well in the past, that being Sonoma Raceway.
