AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch took another step in what’s been a long, amazing journey here Sunday evening, finishing fourth in the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 to earn an opportunity to compete for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, never a winner of the series’ top prize, will join Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports), defending series champion Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing) and Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing) in the Championship 4 round of this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.
That he qualified for the 16-team Chase to begin with was more than noteworthy — Busch missed the first 11 points races after breaking his right leg and left foot in a crash during the season-opening XFINITY Series race at Daytona.
Once he did return, he ripped off three wins in a four-race span to earn a spot in the Chase.
Of course, Busch has been there before — and his Chase fortunes have rarely ended well. This year, though, could be different.
“I guess I’m just pleased that I didn’t have any bad luck,” Busch said after Phoenix. “We didn’t necessarily have any good luck through the Chase.
“We did in the summer, definitely. We were running second, third, whatever it might have been, and then we had a good pit call or something kind of go our way with a yellow flag and it got us our track position, got out front; we won a couple races through the summer, but it’s just been pretty even keel, and I’m happy with that.
“I feel like we’ve done some good things through this Chase. We’ve run up front, we’ve run strong. We also had a couple mishaps but fortunately they weren’t big enough that they eliminated us. We were able to persevere through those things.”
Busch entered Sunday’s race second in the point standings — safe but perhaps not secure. However, a race that began more than six hours late due to weather provided limited drama and ended after only 219 of its 312 laps had been completed when rain returned.
Busch was able to avoid any missteps and he and his team begin preparations for what lies ahead.
“Now going to Homestead for the first time with the opportunity to win a championship is really awesome,” Busch said. “It’s very good for my team. (Crew chief) Adam Stevens and these guys, they worked really hard and they persevered all through the beginning … of the season when I was gone, working with David Ragan and Erik Jones and Matt Crafton and those guys that drove my race car.
“But once I was able to return, it felt pretty good to get back in the car and have my team guys motivated and ready to have me back, and we’ve really excelled since then.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. ultimately won the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500, the second consecutive Chase race won by a non-Chase driver and third straight event won by a Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Busch’s best previous Chase finish was fourth (in 2013), and came before the elimination element was implemented into the 10-race format.