(Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
After a win at Kansas Speedway in May, 23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch has a new outlook on the 2022 season. Before the victory, the 34th of his career, Busch sat 21st in driver’s points. Now, he’s 12th in the playoff standings more than halfway through the regular season.
Three weeks later, Busch is hungry for another victory — this time at a new Cup Series track.
Since 1997, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway has hosted 37 NASCAR races. The Camping World Truck Series has made a stop in each season since 2014 and the Xfinity Series visited each year up until 2010. But, Cup has never raced at Gateway — until now.
“It’s exciting to go to a new market for our sport,” Busch said. “Just the excitement here in the St. Louis area is very similar when we went to Road America. “We had Nashville, again, it’s the newness and the fun of preparing for something different and then experiencing it.
“We just didn’t arrive here by planning it a month ago – this has been years in the making with all of the different schedule changes and it’s exciting. With the tracks all being locked in, with the contract with the TV or whatever that was – with SMI, ISC, all of that has seemed to dissolve and we have all of these new opportunities.”
Gateway, a 1.25-mile egg-shaped oval, has sold all 57,000 seats for its inaguaral Cup event. Turns 1 and 2 are banked at 11 degrees and Turns 3 and 4 are banked at 9 degrees, which is similar to Phoenix Raceway.
NASCAR announced this week that Phoenix would host the 2023 championship — the fourth consecutive season the track will host. Gateway will help teams collect valuable data for the championship race in November.
(Photo: Ryan Daley | The Podium Finish)
“This is as close as you will get to a Phoenix sequence in track style, so that is how we have prepped to show up here,” Busch said. “This is an important race because of the Phoenix championship race on what data we can gather here. Weather is perfect. It’s like 85 this weekend and that’s probably what we will see in Phoenix for the finale.
“There is always that balance that drivers want as far as a tire that if you push it to hard you end up wearing it out and slipping sideways and struggling towards the end of the run. There’s a durability question and then there is the flat out – you want a tire that is able to grab each of the track’s asphalt the right way.”
NASCAR provided Cup teams with a 50-minute practice session on Friday because of the first visit to the track. Teams had time to work on their cars Friday night after practice and they qualified on Saturday morning.
Busch finished fourth fastest in practice and qualified 11th for the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter. Six of the top 10 qualifiers were Fords.
“We have like a normal – well the old normal – of a nice Friday, Saturday, Sunday sequence,” Busch said on the extended weekend. “For me, that’s the best rhythm to get into as a driver.”
Busch searches for his second win of the season. He has recorded three top fives and five top 10s in 2022 A win on Sunday would eliminate any doubt of Busch missing the playoffs on points. Through 14 races, the Cup Series has 11 winners.
But, Busch is just happy to return to Gateway and the St. Louis area. 22 years ago, in his only previous visit, he almost won a Truck race at the track in 2000.
“Raced here 22 years ago in the Truck Series. It has been fun to tell that story,” he said. “I was leading with about 10 to go. We were trying to stretch the fuel and ran out of gas, but it is a fun racetrack to race on.
“Everything just feels new to this area just with Cup group showing up, but this is some of the best dirt track racing in the country. I heard the sequence is how high the corn grows, that means it is better for dirt racing. The corn grows really tall around here.”
Sunday’s race is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
