Outsiders, don’t you think it’s better when NASCAR has a good villain like Kyle Busch? His latest steal had fans booing him. Usually when a driver enters victory lane, cheers and applause rain down. However, when you’re the No. 1 bad guy in the league to most people, that’s not always the case. Busch knows that and even embraces it.
Driving his No. 18 Toyota Camry TRD, Busch had a good day of racing. It wasn’t just the restarts and things like that, either. Busch was in this race from the beginning and maintained his position well. He had to move back at times and work his way back up, but he had a fast car and for perhaps the first time this season had a car ready to finish a race.
He sat in the all-important third place position on the last lap. In case of emergency, third place on the dirt at Bristol is a pretty good place to find yourself. Kyle Busch capitalized on Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick wiping out and notched his first NASCAR win of the season. 60th in his career. Listen to these boos as he talks after the race.
“Yeah, we got one, don’t matter how you get em, it’s all about gettin’ em. Just can’t say enough,” the driver said while boos came down. “I feel like Dale Earnhardt Sr. right now, this is awesome! I didn’t even do anything.”
Now with 18 seasons straight with a win, Busch now has a record in NASCAR. He is tied with Richard Petty for the most consecutive seasons with a win. That classic Crunchy Cookie M&M’s car looked good on the dirt and it was a fast one. Right place, right time, and Busch backs into a win…
Kyle Busch Takes Advantage in NASCAR Bristol Dirt Race
When racing on the dirt, nothing is guaranteed. Every driver knew that going into the race. What it all came down to was timing and a little bit of luck. Had the race ended after the second stage, during the first delay, Chase Briscoe wins and takes his second win of the year. If it had ended on the second delay, Tyler Reddick would have won with just under 30 laps left.
However, that didn’t happen. The race officials got the track cleared enough to race on and it was restarted twice after rain delays. Each time, Briscoe bounced back. But, looking back, so did Kyle Busch, the NASCAR veteran. 60 wins under his belt, Busch knows a thing or two about closing out races.
He knew he wouldn’t catch the leaders straight up. Still, he knew all he had to do was drive and get across the finish line to at least come away with third place and another top-5 finish. Not too bad. Unless you get lucky and find yourself speeding past Reddick as he does a 360 spin. That’s the way it goes.
I wonder if Busch still thinks the sport should “cut the cord” when it comes to dirt races?
