Brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch both reached milestones Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with Kurt making his 650th start in NASCAR’s top series and Kyle achieving a large round figure with start No. 500.
The brothers’ accomplishment came at the green flag of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Kurt Busch, a three-time Atlanta winner, started eighth in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet. Kyle Busch — who has won twice at the 1.54-mile Georgia track — qualified sixth in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota, but dropped to the rear of the field in pace laps after a crash in Saturday practice forced the team to use a reserve car.
The weekend has already been off to a solid start for Kyle Busch, who prevailed in Saturday’s Gander Outdoors Truck Series race. He has 51 career wins in NASCAR’s premier series. Kurt Busch is a 30-time winner in the Monster Energy Series. Both are former series champions.
The scratch-and-dent Daytona 500 is done and dusted, and now it’s time to go racing at the white-knuckle 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Erik Jones is ready. Coming off a remarkable third-place finish at NASCAR’s biggest race last week, Jones, who displayed plenty of grit and determination in the battered and bruised Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota Camry, will look to the remarkable rough and abrasive Georgia circuit as an opportunity to reach for a higher gear.
Cool, calm and quietly confident about both the race and season ahead, we caught up with the driver.
From the hype and madness of Daytona all the way over to round two at Atlanta. What a change, huh? Something of an emotional hangover for you?
(Laughter) “It’s a big change for sure. You know, we go from by far our biggest race of the year there at the 500 and then we go to Atlanta. It’s a big swing of things, but it’s kind of a signal, at least that’s how I look at it, of being in the new season. For some reason, and I don’t know if everybody feels this way, but when I’m at Daytona I don’t really feel like we’re in the season yet. It’s kind of its own race even though it’s a points-paying race. Even though it’s the first race of the season, it sort of feels like its own deal. Getting to Atlanta, at least for me, I finally feel like we’re getting the season rolling.”
The Daytona 500 was calamitous for both you and the entire No. 20 team. Nonetheless, and after all was said and done, you slotted-in at a remarkable third overall. It worked out pretty well for you, huh?
“Yeah, it worked out great at the end. We had a really fast car all through Speedweeks. Our Clash car was really good and our 500 car was fast by itself and drove really well, but it’s always tough to stay out of trouble there. Unfortunately, we had a fuel pressure issue while we were up front with 35 to go and that kind of put us behind. Ultimately, we ended up getting back on the lead lap and eventually got our damaged repaired from the first big crash and I avoided the others and ended up with a third-place finish. It was a great way to start the season.”
Atlanta Motor Speedway? What do you make of it? Old, fast, rough … and the place hasn’t been paved in 20-plus years.
“I like Atlanta. It’s tough. I think it’s close to being the oldest surface we go to on the schedule. That makes it tough, you know? It’s trying to find the balance of being fast at the front side of a run and the car being there 20 to 25 laps in when you really need to make time with the tires worn out. It’s hard to find that balance. … It’s been a learning experience each time we’ve been there, but it’s going to be changed up pretty good here with this new rules package. I think you’re going to see a pretty different Atlanta than what we’ve seen from the last five or 10 years now. We’ll see how it goes. I was fortunate to get to test there with the new rules package a few months back and see how everything played out.”
Perhaps compared to some of the other NASCAR circuits, do you get a real sensation of speed at Atlanta?
“I do. I don’t know what it is about it, but it is really fast. Even with as old as the surface is, it’s amazing the speed we can still carry around that track on fresh tires. It’s fun as a driver. You want to feel like you’re out there really getting all you can and Atlanta is definitely a place where it feels like you’re moving pretty good. It’s fun and it’s neat to see how fast that place still is.”
Erik, you’re now into your third year of the Monster Energy Series. You’re in a top car with a top team and the results have really been there. Your house really is in order. Can you make a genuine run at the championship in 2019?
“I really think we can. We’ve made some good changes on our team from the personnel standpoint and the pit crew standpoint and have gotten things pretty much where we want them to be. I feel really confident coming into this year. I feel like I know what I need to do at each track. I’ve been everywhere on the Cup schedule at least a couple of times and feel comfortable racing with the Cup guys, you know? It takes a while to learn how to race those guys and how these races play out and how to kind of manage a much longer race. I feel really good about the year.”
Driver odds to win Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway have jumped considerably all weekend for several drivers — most notably, three of Stewart-Haas Racing’s four drivers have leapt toward the top of the board.
This year’s first race on an intermediate track comes with a brand-new rules package — learn more about that here — and with it, plenty of learnings. Aric Almirola and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start 1-2 Sunday, and unusual practice speeds led to odds movement.
• Aric Almirola, who won his first Busch Pole Award since 2012, opened at 25-1 odds. He enters Sunday at 10-1, a great value for those who plunked down a bet on him before the weekend began. Nine drivers are listed at 10-1 or better.
• Daniel Suarez showed plenty of speed in practice and qualifying in the No. 41 Ford, and his line reflects that. Opening at 55-1 odds, Suarez is one of the biggest movers and now sits at 25-1.
• Clint Bowyer, the third SHR driver on the list, led both practice sessions and appeared to be the favorite to win the Busch Pole. He qualified third, though. He’s gone from 16-1 odds to 8-1, the third highest in the field behind Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr., meanwhile, jumped from 66-1 odds to 20-1 after his No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford Mustang delivered a P2 qualifying position.
• Although the odd didn’t move significantly, it’s worth noting that Kevin Harvick — who has dominated at Atlanta the last five years — saw his odds as race favorite go from 4.5-1 to 6-1 after his slow Friday.
HAMPTON, Ga. – Johnny Sauter passed Kyle Busch mid-race in Saturday’s Gander Outdoors Truck Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But he couldn’t replicate the move in the waning laps, as Busch surged to his record-setting 52nd career victory in the Truck Series.
“Honestly, I was kinda trying to wreck him and I just couldn’t get there,” said Sauter, who finished second. “I was locked onto him and I was hoping he would spin out, but he did a great job of blocking.
“So, in hindsight, maybe (I’d) go to the top, but I just don’t feel like I would have had the momentum to get him off the corner. I might think differently after I watch the replay.”
While Sauter didn’t nab the checkered flag, the No. 13 driver was one of three ThorSport Racing drivers who finished in the top five in the 130-lap event, with Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes coming up third and fifth, respectively (the fourth driver Matt Crafton finished 14th). At one point, all four of the team’s drivers were running first through fourth, providing a strong showing for a group of drivers that was fully finalized just weeks ago.
“It’s great, obviously I’m a late addition to the party,” said Sauter, whose ride was announced Feb. 13. “Those guys have had a lot of speed toward the end of last year, I felt like. So, when the opportunity came back and (owner) Duke (Thorson) gave me the ring to come back, I was like, ‘Hell, yeah, let’s do it.’ … I feel like we’ll be able to carry this for a while.”
Rhodes’ No. 99 ride for this season was announced the same day as Sauter’s, with the 21-year-old driver having piloted ThorSport’s Nos. 27 and 41 entries in years prior. His strong run at Daytona International Speedway last week was interrupted by the “Big One,” so he appreciated a top-five finish this week.
“The funny thing is we were kind of running a little bit different packages to suit the drivers,” Rhodes said. “We were all different but we were different in a good way, so it showed strength, it showed unity with the team. The driver lineup at ThorSport, I think is pretty stout this year, between Grant and Crafton and Sauter. …
“I think as a team we can get better at some stuff back at the shop and that will just translate to some really good, raw speed off the hauler.”
HAMPTON, Ga. – As darkness enveloped Atlanta Motor Speedway, and rain pelted the windshield of his No. 51 Toyota, Kyle Busch patiently waited for word he had sole possession of the all-time victory lead in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
The record-setting win wouldn’t be quite that easy. After the red flag for rain, NASCAR restarted the race, rather than calling it. Five laps later, after parrying a determined charge from former series champion Johnny Sauter, Busch took the checkered Saturday’s Ultimate Tailgating 200, earning his 52nd victory and breaking a tie for most all-time with NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr.
“It means a lot,” Busch said. “It’s a big deal for me and a big deal for this team.”
The win was Busch’s fifth in the Truck Series at Atlanta but the first since 2009. Of his 52 triumphs, 16 came in trucks fielded by Billy Ballew before Busch founded his own Kyle Busch Motorsports team and added 36 races to his total (and counting) as an owner/driver.
With Ballew in attendance at Atlanta, Busch’s Tundra carried the former owner’s name on board.
“I had Billy Ballew on board with us here today,” Busch said after climbing from his truck, with mist putting a wet sheen on Victory Lane. “And Billy’s right over here as well. It took putting Billy Ballew back on my truck to get me a win here, so we might have to make that an annual reoccurrence.
“I slipped getting out (of the truck). It’s a little wet out here, in case y’all didn’t notice.”
Busch, however rued the fact that the race wasn’t called as he sat on pit road under the red flag on Lap 121. His teammate and protégé, Harrison Burton, held the second position at the time, but when the race restarted, Burton had the slippery outside lane to deal with and fell to eighth at the finish.
“I wish we could have ended it (then),” Busch said. “I would have rather had Harrison finish second. I’m not sure how far he fell, but he ran a great race today. It was cool to see the No. 18 right up there as well.”
The victory was Busch’s 195 over all three of NASCAR’s national touring series combined, leaving him just five short of his stated goal of 200. With 92 NASCAR Xfinity victories, Busch also holds the career record in that series.
Sauter got to Busch’s rear bumper right after the final restart on Lap 128 but didn’t feel he could make a winning move.
“I just didn’t think I could get it there,” said Sauter, who returned to ThorSport Racing for the 2019 season. “I’m bummed, because I thought I timed it right, and I was pushing him, and he was doing a good job of blocking, and I just didn’t think I could get there.
“It’s a good start, though. I’m happy with the effort. We just need a little bit more. When I go back and watch the replay, I hope I’m not kicking myself in the butt for not making that move to the top, but honestly, at that point I didn’t feel like I could get it done.”
Grant Enfinger, Sauter’s ThorSport teammate, ran third, followed by reigning series champion Brett Moffitt and Ben Rhodes. Ross Chastain and last week’s Daytona winner, Austin Hill, came home sixth and seventh, respectively.
HAMPTON, Ga. – Bubba Wallace took his dad’s old Nikon camera to Greenville-Pickens Speedway in 2010. He was there to test a K&N Series car with Rev Racing, but ended up gaining more than racing data in that visit.
Sitting on the precarious pit wall of the South Carolina speedway as cars whirled around the track, Wallace’s love for photography was ignited.
“In between changes and whatnot, I would go grab my camera,” Wallace told NASCAR.com from the No. 43 hauler at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday. “At Greenville … you can stand here and touch the race car if you wanted to. It’s pretty cool. Little sketchy.
“I would sit there right by the wall – I’d have to see if I have a picture of that test, I don’t know if I do still – but you’re inches away. Before that, I was like, man, it would be kind of fun – you see the professional photographers at the track taking photos. I’m like, that would be cool to do. …
“Instead of taking somebody else’s picture, I was like, I want that to be my picture, you know?”
As Wallace began moving up through his NASCAR career, his camera came with him every weekend. He took a solid photo of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car a few years into his photography exploration and thought about printing it for Junior to sign. He never did; instead, he continued to work on his craft.
Courtesy Bubba Wallace
The race tracks, series and teams changed and Wallace’s cameras changed as he continued to upgrade to better models – “it’s like golf; the more expensive the clubs, the better you’re going to play, right?” he said lightheartedly.
And he soaked up knowledge from NASCAR photographers such as Nigel Kinrade and Russell LaBounty at the race track.
“Nigel and Russell were huge helps,” he recalled. “… They kind of took me under for a little bit and they would tell me things to look at and things to adjust and going from shooting on automatic to now shooting manual, all manual stuff except for the focus button. …
“I’m turning dials and stuff. So, I kind of self-taught myself those things. That’s one cool thing about it, you can spend days, weeks learning new things and you’re like, ‘Aha! Got it.’ ”
That camera was a constant for about five years in Wallace’s young life; but when his career began picking up, his camera started picking up dust.
“Rewind a year, year and a half, didn’t touch it … I bought one and used it for a little bit and I’m like I gotta pick up my camera, I got pick up my camera, I gotta pick it up,” he said. “And something just hit me – it was right before we went to Hawaii in the offseason. I started messing around with it again.”
Wallace’s offseason trip to Hawaii – which he did with a group that included fellow driver and friend Ryan Blaney – was the sight of his photography resurgence. His Instagram flooded with landscape photos of picturesque scenery. He would make the group stop for the ideal photo or – his personal favorite – time-lapse opportunities that he couldn’t pass up. He set up his tripod for Christmas photos with girlfriend Amanda Carter.
“I did feel like the dad, sitting there with my tripod,” he joked.
And when the racing calendar rolled back around in 2019 for the season-opening Daytona 500, the camera – this time, an upgraded Sony A7R3 – was back by his side.
“I’ve been trying to pick it back up … I’ve got a ton of equipment, a ton of lenses and some dollys and stuff. But it’s really time-consuming, so I do mostly time-lapse stuff,” he said.
Wallace won’t call himself a photographer, but he’s eager to continue learning; during NASCAR photoshoots, he’ll study the camera that the photographer is using. The 25-year-old driver’s passion is evident as he talks with his hands flying about his favorite aspects to shoot – stars and clouds – and his next photography goal; “A holy grail time-lapse, which is day, night, day or night, day, night. You get to go through all the clouds rolling and the stars come in at night … and you just get awesome colors.”
“… You’re like, man, if they can take that shot, I can take that shot,” he continued. “It might not be as good, but it might be better. You never know. So, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
Beyond anything else, Wallace enjoys the challenge with photography. Fellow racer and friend Chase Elliott received a camera of his own for Christmas and texted Wallace. The No. 43 driver spent time tinkering with Elliott’s gift later, just trying to figure it out.
“I’ve been facing challenges all my life, so why not add it to the camera world?” he said. “Cameras, that’s all on me … If it turns out bad, they make delete buttons. Get rid of it and try again. So, I think it’s all trial and error. You can spend all the time in the world, you’re not on anybody’s schedule but your own.”
Down the road, photography could turn into more than a hobby for Wallace – he certainly thought about it when he was searching for a full-time NASCAR ride in 2017. And maybe someday, his photo will end up in a glossy magazine, like the ones he admires in National Geographic.
For now, he’ll continue shooting whatever inspires him – and will wait as long as it takes to get just the right time-lapse.
“I told Amanda if we go out to Iceland or whatever, you’re going to be sitting … for hours because you have to wait for those perfect moments,” he said.
HAMPTON, Ga. – To hear Christopher Bell describe his race in Victory Lane, you’d never know that he had just won it.
“I felt pretty sloppy there as a driver sometimes,” Bell said after leading 142 of 163 laps in winning Saturday’s Rinnai 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “Running the yellow line (at the bottom of the track) is so hard.
“I don’t know, I would just struggle on the longer runs there.”
Struggling, of course, is a relative thing. After the only caution for a racing incident slowed the field on Lap 156, Bell held off Cole Custer by .191 seconds in a three-lap dash for the finish. The victory — including a sweep of all three stages — was Bell’s first of the season, his first at Atlanta and the ninth of his career.
Bell also baptized the new Toyota Supra with its first win in NASCAR competition, as Toyota picked up its 150th victory in the Xfinity Series.
After rain washed out qualifying, Bell started third in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota according to 2018 owner points, grabbed the lead on the first lap and held it for the entire first stage. That set the tone for the entire race. The 24-year-old Oklahoma driver surrendered the top spot only under caution on pit road or during the one cycle of green-flag pit stops late in the race.
Custer surged from fifth to second after the final restart on Lap 161, but Bell managed to keep the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford behind him.
“He took the air away from us (on the final lap),” Custer said. “I thought I was going to have a run going down the backstretch. We just have to build on that — we’ll be a threat all year.”
In fact, with Justin Allgaier finishing third, the Xfinity Series returned to form after a scramble at Daytona that saw Michael Annett pick up his first victory. Bell, Custer and Allgaier are three drivers expected to contend for the series championship.
Starting third in the preferred bottom lane, Allgaier thought he had a chance for the win, but Custer slipped past him on the restart lap.
“We were just a little tight today,” Allgaier said. “All day long we didn’t get the balance exactly where we wanted it, but the guys did a fantastic job. We had great pit stops. That last run, we got the inside, and I thought we were going to be OK.
“I chose to go to the middle, thinking I could get the run on the back and let Cole by me, but still, a great race. Hats off to C. Bell. He had the best car all day.”
Brandon Jones overcame a pit road penalty to finish fourth, with reigning series champion Tyler Reddick coming home fifth and Jeffrey Earnhardt sixth, a career best. Earnhardt restarted next to Bell on Lap 161, but the slick top lane was at a clear disadvantage.
“It was really hard on the outside lane,” Earnhardt said. “But the Toyota Supra was super-fast today. They (JGR) put me in a heck of a car. We came up short on the win. We showed we belong here, and we’re going to run up front the rest of the races.”
Reddick had cut Bell’s two-second lead to less than .300 seconds before the final caution.
“It made for a good finish, that’s for sure,” Bell said. “Man, the 2 (Reddick) and the 00 (Custer) really both of them were pretty good on the long runs. Our Supra was really good.
“Very thankful there to get the yellow and put some tires on it, but it would have been fun to race it out with Tyler there.”
The Xfinity Series’ next race is the Boyd Gaming 300, scheduled next Saturday (4 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola will start from the pole position for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) but does that merit a spot in your lineup? We’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration as you make roster decisions.
Remember that the garage locks at the end of Stage 2. Once the final stage starts, your roster is locked in.
RJ Kraft’s Fantasy Live lineup for race-day at Atlanta:
1. Clint Bowyer
2. Aric Almirola
3. Kurt Busch
4. Kyle Larson
5. Martin Truex Jr.
Garage: Kevin Harvick
Cars to the rear: Kyle Busch (backup car)
Competition caution: Lap 35
By and large, I’m flipping my original lineup on its head for Sunday. I’m sticking with Kurt Busch and Truex but changing nearly everything else. The 2004 champ’s solid history here — three Cup wins and, more recently, seven top 10s in his last nine starts — and Truex was third on the 10-lap board in final practice and even with a new rules package, I trust in him on 1.5-mile range tracks.
Bowyer topped both practices and finished third here last year. He’s also going to line up third so I’m hoping to get some stage points there. For another slot, I’ll stick with SHR and select his teammate Almirola. The driver of the No. 10 Ford will start on the pole and always seemed to grab stage points when he qualified well last year. My last active spot came down to Larson and another SHR driver — Daniel Suarez. I’m giving the spot to Larson based on his better 10-lap average in final practice — Larson was second, while Suarez was 18th and more than 1.5 seconds behind the Ganassi driver in that category. An added factor for me is that Atlanta tends to favor veteran drivers with a tougher surface that calls for managing tire wear in a way that experience tends to lend itself to.
For the garage, I went back and fourth between Kyle Busch and Harvick. Busch has the much better practice times and 10-lap average in final practice as he topped the board there. However, he has to go to a backup car and the rear of the field after a wreck in final practice. Harvick has been so strong at this track since coming to SHR that it’s hard to look away from that. He had power steering issues in Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions, but those seem to be corrected based on his 10-lap average time that ranked fourth in final practice. Before the final practice incident for Busch, I was going to keep Harvick out, but now I am giving a slight nod to the 2014 champ. That said, I plan on being pretty judicious with “Happy.” If Harvick is not in the top six at the end of Stage 2, if I have no issues elsewhere in my lineup, I will leave him out. As for Kyle Busch, the 2015 champion will factor into my bonus picks.
When it comes to stage winners, I like Bowyer to take Stage 1 with Harvick in Stage 2 and Kyle Busch to bring it home as the winner. Since I came close to plugging him in my lineup, I’d like to try and get some points out of him if his backup car is as strong as his primary was in practice.
Each week in this space, we’ll also highlight two Props Challenge items for players.
1. Chevy had five drivers in the top 10 at Daytona last week. Over/under of 4.5 this week? I am taking the under here. Only three Chevrolets qualified in the top 10 and only four in the top 15 so the manufacturer seems a little off on speed at Atlanta. Plus, in the last two Atlanta races, Chevrolet has had four drivers in the top 10 in 2017 and just two in last year’s race. With how the Fords and Toyota have placed on the speed charts, I’m inclined to think those camps will take up two-thirds of the top 10 — and all you need are six non-Chevrolets in the top 10 and the under is covered.
2. Last two winners at Atlanta have started inside the top five. Will that trend continue? I’m going no on this one for a number of reasons. First, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch (even in a backup) and Kevin Harvick — as off as he looked on Friday — are among the cars outside the top five and I feel pretty good about the notion that one of them ends up in Victory Lane. Factoring in that outside of Denny Hamlin (starting fourth), the rest of top five in the lineup (Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bowyer and Suarez) have just one win at 1.5-mile range track (Bowyer in 2012 at Charlotte), Hamlin has only one Atlanta win (in 2012) and I like the odds in favor of drivers outside the top five.
Clint Bowyer powered to the fastest lap Saturday to cap an eventful final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Bowyer drove through a persistent mist to set the benchmark with a 179.104 mph lap in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Ford. Bowyer, set to start third in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM), was also fastest in Friday’s opening practice on the 1.54-mile track.
“I don’t know that it means a whole lot,” Bowyer said. “You have speed in your race car but I don’t know if that will matter. I don’t think there is anybody that ran more than 20 laps. We are a 50-lap run here. That is a big difference. Lap 20 on is where we start separating the men from the boys. Hopefully we will be good and strong at those laps.”
Kyle Busch posted the second-fastest lap at 178.873 mph early in practice, but crashed into the Turn 2 retaining wall at the nine-minute mark. The rear-end damage forced his Joe Gibbs Racing crew to prepare a reserve No. 18 Toyota ahead of Sunday’s 500-miler.
Austin Dillon notched the third-fastest lap (178.712 mph) in the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet. Michael McDowell (178.672) and Corey LaJoie (178.436) completed the leaderboard’s top five, just ahead of three-time Atlanta winner Kurt Busch (178.018) in sixth.
Xfinity Series regular Austin Cindric spent time in the Team Penske No. 2 Ford as a fill-in for Brad Keselowski, who sat out the early part of final practice with what the team described as flu-like symptoms. The No. 2 Ford wound up 28th on the final practice leaderboard.
Erik Jones logged the 24th-fastest speed, but his track time was curtailed as he brought the No. 20 Toyota to the garage midway through the 80-minute session with power-steering trouble.
Defending race winner Kevin Harvick, who fought through steering issues during Friday’s on-track activity, clocked the 21st-best lap in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford.
Kyle Busch crashed in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, forcing his Joe Gibbs Racing team to unload a reserve No. 18 Toyota at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Busch, a two-time Atlanta winner, had just posted the second-fastest lap of the 80-minute session when he spun in Turn 2 at the 1.54-mile track. Busch’s No. 18 made contact with the outside retaining wall, damaging the rear section of his primary car.
“I think it’s toast,” Busch radioed to his crew after skidding to a halt on the backstretch apron, then driving the car back to the garage.
“Just got loose,” Busch said after final practice. “We were trying to run a run and the car was pretty good with fire off there. We ran some really good times and then just kept getting a little bit looser, a little bit looser. I tried to go back to the bottom and run the bottom to see how slow I had to be to go around the bottom and just snapped.”
Busch was scheduled to start sixth in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). With the team resorting to the backup No. 18, Busch will drop to the rear of the field before the start.
“I think it’ll be fine,” Busch said. “Obviously, I think the biggest unknown is just the backup car, but I trust in Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and my guys and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing that we’ll be fine and it’ll just have to be a managed race – a differently managed race than what we expected from yesterday’s qualifying.”
Sunday’s race will mark the 500th career Monster Energy Series start for the 2015 champion.
