Kyle Busch celebrates his second win of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
LINCOLN, Ala. – It is no longer en vogue to accuse Kyle Busch of being “2000 and late” after Sunday’s GEICO 500.
After his rousing 2008 spring race victory, it appeared as if the future NASCAR Hall of Famer found the keys with becoming the next superspeedway king.
While he started 17th, the driver of the No. 8 McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet Camaro showcased the poise and patience to contend for another Talladega Superspeedway victory.
Certainly, finishes of 25th and 15th in Stages 1 and 2 may have seemed taciturn in terms of making a statement at the Alabama speed palace. Then again, as the old motorsports adage goes, “It’s not about how you start but how you finish.”
In the final moments of the twice extended race, Busch kept himself in position for the win, running third while Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney waged in an intense battle on the final lap in Turns 1 and 2.
After Wallace attempted a few blocks on Blaney, the former lost control of his car, spinning into the path of Brad Keselowski’s right front fender.
As the skirmish unfolded in Turn 2, Busch scooted past the chaos, taking the lead as the caution came out. With the race effectively over, Busch earned his second win of the year.
Typically, Busch is enthused or nonplussed after a win. This time around, the Las Vegas native considered the obstacles he overcame following a harrowing accident in the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona, Talladega’s Florida counterpart.
“Well, ever since 2015 struck, I’ve always just hoped to walk out of a speedway race at the end of the day,” Busch said. “When you’re able to do that, you might as well take solace in it. It’s not a win, but at least you’re going home on your own two feet.”
On this occasion, Busch earned the checkered flag in memorable fashion while adding to Richard Childress Racing’s 13th victory at Talladega, trailing Hendrick Motorsports by one win.
Despite the organization’s success at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, Busch understood how challenging it was to tally a hard fought win in the Yellowhammer State.
“Races, they’re all hard to win, but especially speedway races, (they) are hard to win,” he said. “You got 30 guys out there vying for it, that have a legit shot to win, barring different circumstances.
“There were some wrecks in front of us today. We were able to squeak through, not get caught up in it fortunately, which isn’t a whole lot of my luck here. We’ll take this one, for sure.”
On the other hand, Blaney, who led 47 laps, had to ruminate over another close but no cigar result with his pursuit of snapping a near two year winless drought.
Ryan Blaney was in position to snap his 55 race winless drought. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
“The Fords were quick,” Blaney said. “We did a good job working together, but it’s unfortunate we got a little separated there with the No. 4 having to pit and the No. 10 having a right-front flat. I think we worked great together… just I think someone ran out of gas at the restart zone and kind of hurt our lane.
“By the time we got back up there, we tried to make every run we could. It’s a fast car, just a shame not to win. This is a completely separate race than anywhere else, so you take it for what its worth, get ready to go for the next speedway. Hopefully, the momentum carries over.”
Another fast Ford was Chris Buescher in his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang prepared by RFK Racing. Although he did not lead any laps, he overcame finishes of 24th in Stage 1 and 31st in Stage 2.
Chris Buecher tallied his first podium of the year. (Photo: Stephen Conley | The Podium Finish)
“It was a good finish for our Fastenal Mustang,” Buescher said, “It was not as much fun on the day as I expected. Just really hard to make any moves – lanes just stalled out, handing didn’t seem to come into play. I don’t know if it was temperatures or what. Just not as much movement as we hoped… just thought we’d have more opportunities there. Everybody worked hard and got us up there in the end.
“We had enough fuel, and threw some good strategy in there. We were in the hunt for it. I wanted to see the lap play out. I felt like we had a good run up-top, but looking back I don’t think we had any help either. I don’t know. At the end of the day, it was a good finish. The race itself wasn’t as much fun as I was hoping for, for us.”
Before the deciding moments of the GEICO 500, it appeared as if Busch’s crew chief, Randall Burnett, radioed to the former to pit for fuel to make the race’s extended distance. However, Busch elected to stay out, a seemingly risky move considering the uncertainty of potential cautions during the NASCAR Overtime sessions.
“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t really voice that over the radio about, Hey, we got to win, we might as well stay out and ride this thing out. I just thought it in my head. It’s cool to work with Randall. Obviously, he gives me a lot of leeway just with my experience and stuff like that, being here.
Probably a few years ago I would have pitted and just taken the finish, whatever that might have been. We probably would have been caught up in that wreck.
In fitting fashion, Busch took a roll of the dice and his path toward another trip to Victory Lane paid off.
Busch made No. 8 great once more in Talladega. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
“When I thought that we’d have a shot for a front row start at the end, I was like, ‘There’s no way we can pit,'” Busch said. “‘If we run out of gas coming off of turn two after we take the green flag, so be it.’
“Yeah, just go for it, roll the dice.”
Stage 1 Top 10 Finishers
Elliott-Bowman-Chastain-Byron-Larson/Cindric-Gragson-Logano-Preece-Suárez
Stage 2 Top 10 Finishers
Almirola-Elliott-Harvick-Wallace-H. Burton/Truex Jr.-Preece-Hamlin-Stenhouse Jr.-Gragson
GEICO 500 Top 10 Finishers at Talladega
Busch-Blaney-Buescher-Briscoe-Keselowski/E. Jones-Byron-Bell-Suárez-Gilliland
