Kyle Busch before Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway. (Photo: Daniel Rankin | The Podium Finish)
DOVER, Del. — Kyle Busch started 2024 uncharacteristically slow, especially after his hot start just a season ago. Coming into the Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, Busch sat outside the provisional playoff grid — humming at 17th in the standings.
The Busch that NASCAR fans have come to know showed up on Saturday, winning the pole for Sunday’s race. Although he ultimately fell short of capturing the checkered flag, a fourth-place finish helped get Busch and the No. 8 team back on schedule.
“I felt like today was a good day overall,” Busch said. “There are still some things to clean up but I’m proud of a top-five effort.”
After starting from the pole Busch got a great start, clearing Ryan Blaney to secure the lead going into Turn 1. Busch led the first 33 laps before getting passed by Blaney on Lap 34.
Tyler Reddick also got past Busch for second after surrendering the lead.
The rest of Stage 1 didn’t go as well for Busch after losing the lead. On Lap 39, the first caution of the day came out for Todd Gilliland, who spun out while battling Austin Dillon for 26th place.
The slowdown brought all of the leaders to pit road and Busch lost two positions during the cycle, restarting fifth on Lap 48. Busch couldn’t get back any track position, only moving backward and finishing the stage in the seventh position.
Kyle Busch during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway. (Photo: Daniel Rankin | The Podium Finish)
Stage 2 went about the same for Busch. The segment went caution-free, forcing teams to make green flag pit stops and Busch made his on Lap 184. After a smooth stop, the rest of the stage ran to the end and Busch finished in sixth.
Stage 3 went green on Lap 259 and the beginning felt copy/paste from Stage 2. The stage started with a 62-lap green flag run that saw green flag pit stops and allowed Busch to lead another lap before making his stop with 82 to go.
A caution came out just three laps later on Lap 321 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with Josh Berry coming off pit road and spun down the back straightaway.
Busch ran fourth at the time of the caution with only Daniel Hemric yet to make a stop.
However, Busch had to come back down pit road during the caution period because his crew didn’t pack the car full of fuel during the previous stop. The mistake wasn’t overly detrimental to Busch, only losing a handful of spots. But it hurt his chances of going for the win having to restart in seventh.
“It felt like if we would have restarted third, I might have been able to keep pace somewhere closer to the front,” Busch said. “But starting where I did and having to race the 10 (Noah Gragson) was difficult.”
Kyle Busch crosses the start/finish line during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
Still, Busch made a charge back toward the front. Busch sliced back inside the top five and finished in fourth, the first top five for the Richard Childress Racing team since Atlanta in February.
“I hate it for our guys that we didn’t get a better finish, but the FICO Camaro was good,” Busch said. “Just struggled on the long run.”
Busch and the No. 8 team put themselves upfront and in a position to win, something crew chief Randall Burnett harped on post-race.
“In order to win these races, you gotta put yourself up in the front, so that’s what we gotta do,” Burnett told NASCAR.com. “We just got to keep doing that week in and week out, more than anything.”
Busch’s top-five effort shot him up six spots in the driver’s points, moving into 11th place.
The NASCAR Cup Series travels to Kansas Speedway on Sunday, May 5 for the AdventHealth 400. The race is set for 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
