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Kyle Busch Wins Sprint Cup Series Championship
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Kyle Busch started the season at Daytona International Speedway being loaded into an ambulance. On Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway he ended it by winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
Busch took the lead during a restart with seven laps left in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 and outran defending series champion and fellow title contender Kevin Harvick to win not only the race, but the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
“This is a dream of a lifetime, a dream come true and something that only happens every so often,” Busch said in victory lane. “I just can’t believe it with everything that happened this year. All the turmoil, all the things that I went through, that my wife went through, that my family went through, all those around me that they went through. This championship is all for these guys, for my wife, my family and everyone that sacrificed so much to get me here.”
It was an epic comeback for Busch, who missed 11 races at the start of the season when he suffered a compound fracture in his lower right leg and a fracture in his left during the season-opening NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona.
NASCAR granted Busch a waiver for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup provided he could win a race and make it into the top 30 in the championship standings upon his return. Busch made his return to NASCAR competition in May during the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and it didn’t take long for him to get back up to speed.
“I said back then and I’ll say it again, the rehab and then getting back and getting ready, getting healed and focused, all of that was the hardest part. The hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,” Busch said. “To put it all together here tonight, this night wasn’t quite that hard.”
In just his fifth race after returning from injury Busch found victory lane at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, but he didn’t stop there. He won again two races later at Kentucky Speedway, which turned out to be the start of a three-race winning streak that included a victory New Hampshire Motor Speedway and a career-making victory in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Those victories and a solid run of consistency through the summer months got Busch into the top 30 in points, which allowed him to qualify for the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
He remained consistent during the Chase, surviving a 37th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the second race of the Chase to advance to round two. Finishes of 20th, fifth and 11th got him through to round three, where he scored three-straight top fives to get him through to the final round of the Chase during Sunday’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Busch started Sunday’s race from the third position and ran in the top five most of the night, challenging for the lead early before slotting into a top-five position in the second half of the race.
At the front of the field, it appeared that Brad Keselowski was in position to score his second victory of the season. Keselowski took the lead during a restart on lap 172 when he drove around championship contender Martin Truex Jr., who had opted to take only two tires during pit stops under the caution period.
Keselowski quickly distanced himself from the field while behind him the battle was on between Busch and Harvick. Busch quickly drove by Truex and into second, with Harvick following suit two laps later to take over third.
While Keselowski continued to lead, all eyes were on Busch and Harvick. Busch built a comfortable margin over Harvick as laps clicked off. Without a caution flag to slow the field, green flag pit stops started on lap 214 when Truex made his stop. Harvick was the next to pit among the championship contenders, followed by Gordon and then Busch.
After the pit cycle was complete, Keselowski continued to lead while Busch ran second. Behind Busch the fastest car on track was Kyle Larson, who had driven by Harvick on the high side to take over third in the middle of the green flag run.
Laps continued to click off and Larson continued to gain on Busch and Keselowski, with Larson bouncing his car off the wall in turn four with 19 laps left as he tried to catch Busch. Five laps later Larson was able to overtake Busch to take second and set his sights on Keselowski.
Larson looked like he was going to catch Keselowski in the final laps, but with 11 laps to go everything changed when the caution flag waved for a piece of debris directly under the flag stand on the front stretch.
All of the lead lap cars came down pit road and Keselowski held serve, holding on to the lead. Behind him Busch’s crew was able to get him off pit road in second ahead of Larson, with Harvick rolling off pit road in fourth.
The field returned to racing with seven laps to go and Busch pounced, using the high side to take the lead away from Keselowski coming out of turn two. Harvick, who restarted right behind Busch, also got by Keselowski to set up a one-on-one battle for both the victory and the championship.
Busch made it look easy, pulling away from Harvick over the final seven laps to eventually beat Harvick to the checkered flag by 1.553 seconds to win both the race and the championship.
“I don’t know why Brad chose the bottom but he gave me the top and I was like, ‘Well this is interesting,’ because I wasn’t expecting that,” Busch said. “That did put Harvick behind me so I just had to protect whatever Harvick was going to do, if he was going to try and shoot the middle or shoot the gap or whatever it was going to be.
“I don’t think I got hit, I think I just got a really good restart and then just got going. I don’t know if Brad spun his tires or what, but when I got to turns one and two we were pretty even. But man, I just held it to the floor and I gave it everything I had those last seven, eight laps, whatever it was,” Busch said.
“To have a shot with these four final drivers, Martin Truex, one of the best at Homestead, Kevin Harvick, one of the best the last two years, and Jeff Gordon, one of the best of all time. To go up against those guys and to score the victory for this M&M’s Toyota Camry was phenomenal,” Busch said.
The championship for Busch came in the final race for four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Gordon, who was also in contention for the championship Sunday night. Gordon struggled most of the evening despite leading laps early and was never a serious threat at the front, eventually finishing sixth. The fourth championship contender, Truex, ended the race in 12th.
“I don’t know that you could have ever scripted it any better,” Busch said about beating Gordon for the championship in his final race. “For him to be in his last year and go out, I wish I could have beat him sooner in that time you know, when he was still running or had another year to go after it.”
The championship comes in the first year with crew chief Adam Stevens making the calls atop the pit box. Stevens and Busch were first paired in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, where they won dozens of races before Stevens was promoted to serve as Busch’s crew chief this year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
“Adam Stevens is my hero,” Busch said. “I love that guy. I’m glad I could get him that fifth win to get him a little bit of a raise for next year. That is pretty awesome.
“Adam Stevens made a phenomenal adjustment on that final pit stop to give me exactly what I needed to go out there and run some hard laps for eight laps and drive away,” Busch said.
It also isn’t the first championship for Joe Gibbs Racing, who claimed championships in 2000 with Bobby Labonte and 2002 and 2005 with Tony Stewart. The championship is the first for Toyota since entering the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2007. Toyota partnered with JGR in 2008.
“There are so many firsts to this,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “We have M&M’s, this is their first (title). They’ve been in racing 25 years. It’s Toyota’s first (title). We got Kyle’s first, we got Adam’s (Stevens) first, can you believe that? A rookie crew chief.”
The championship is Busch’s first, but not the first for the Busch family. Kyle’s older brother Kurt Busch won the championship during the very first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2004, making the Busch brothers just the second pair of brothers to win the championship. The Labonte brothers, Terry and Bobby, were the first pair to do it with Terry winning championships in 1984 and 1996 and Bobby winning the title in 2000.
Busch took the lead during a restart with seven laps left in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 and outran defending series champion and fellow title contender Kevin Harvick to win not only the race, but the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
“This is a dream of a lifetime, a dream come true and something that only happens every so often,” Busch said in victory lane. “I just can’t believe it with everything that happened this year. All the turmoil, all the things that I went through, that my wife went through, that my family went through, all those around me that they went through. This championship is all for these guys, for my wife, my family and everyone that sacrificed so much to get me here.”
It was an epic comeback for Busch, who missed 11 races at the start of the season when he suffered a compound fracture in his lower right leg and a fracture in his left during the season-opening NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona.
NASCAR granted Busch a waiver for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup provided he could win a race and make it into the top 30 in the championship standings upon his return. Busch made his return to NASCAR competition in May during the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and it didn’t take long for him to get back up to speed.
“I said back then and I’ll say it again, the rehab and then getting back and getting ready, getting healed and focused, all of that was the hardest part. The hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,” Busch said. “To put it all together here tonight, this night wasn’t quite that hard.”
In just his fifth race after returning from injury Busch found victory lane at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, but he didn’t stop there. He won again two races later at Kentucky Speedway, which turned out to be the start of a three-race winning streak that included a victory New Hampshire Motor Speedway and a career-making victory in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Those victories and a solid run of consistency through the summer months got Busch into the top 30 in points, which allowed him to qualify for the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
He remained consistent during the Chase, surviving a 37th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the second race of the Chase to advance to round two. Finishes of 20th, fifth and 11th got him through to round three, where he scored three-straight top fives to get him through to the final round of the Chase during Sunday’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Busch started Sunday’s race from the third position and ran in the top five most of the night, challenging for the lead early before slotting into a top-five position in the second half of the race.
At the front of the field, it appeared that Brad Keselowski was in position to score his second victory of the season. Keselowski took the lead during a restart on lap 172 when he drove around championship contender Martin Truex Jr., who had opted to take only two tires during pit stops under the caution period.
Keselowski quickly distanced himself from the field while behind him the battle was on between Busch and Harvick. Busch quickly drove by Truex and into second, with Harvick following suit two laps later to take over third.
While Keselowski continued to lead, all eyes were on Busch and Harvick. Busch built a comfortable margin over Harvick as laps clicked off. Without a caution flag to slow the field, green flag pit stops started on lap 214 when Truex made his stop. Harvick was the next to pit among the championship contenders, followed by Gordon and then Busch.
After the pit cycle was complete, Keselowski continued to lead while Busch ran second. Behind Busch the fastest car on track was Kyle Larson, who had driven by Harvick on the high side to take over third in the middle of the green flag run.
Laps continued to click off and Larson continued to gain on Busch and Keselowski, with Larson bouncing his car off the wall in turn four with 19 laps left as he tried to catch Busch. Five laps later Larson was able to overtake Busch to take second and set his sights on Keselowski.
Larson looked like he was going to catch Keselowski in the final laps, but with 11 laps to go everything changed when the caution flag waved for a piece of debris directly under the flag stand on the front stretch.
All of the lead lap cars came down pit road and Keselowski held serve, holding on to the lead. Behind him Busch’s crew was able to get him off pit road in second ahead of Larson, with Harvick rolling off pit road in fourth.
The field returned to racing with seven laps to go and Busch pounced, using the high side to take the lead away from Keselowski coming out of turn two. Harvick, who restarted right behind Busch, also got by Keselowski to set up a one-on-one battle for both the victory and the championship.
Busch made it look easy, pulling away from Harvick over the final seven laps to eventually beat Harvick to the checkered flag by 1.553 seconds to win both the race and the championship.
“I don’t know why Brad chose the bottom but he gave me the top and I was like, ‘Well this is interesting,’ because I wasn’t expecting that,” Busch said. “That did put Harvick behind me so I just had to protect whatever Harvick was going to do, if he was going to try and shoot the middle or shoot the gap or whatever it was going to be.
“I don’t think I got hit, I think I just got a really good restart and then just got going. I don’t know if Brad spun his tires or what, but when I got to turns one and two we were pretty even. But man, I just held it to the floor and I gave it everything I had those last seven, eight laps, whatever it was,” Busch said.
“To have a shot with these four final drivers, Martin Truex, one of the best at Homestead, Kevin Harvick, one of the best the last two years, and Jeff Gordon, one of the best of all time. To go up against those guys and to score the victory for this M&M’s Toyota Camry was phenomenal,” Busch said.
The championship for Busch came in the final race for four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Gordon, who was also in contention for the championship Sunday night. Gordon struggled most of the evening despite leading laps early and was never a serious threat at the front, eventually finishing sixth. The fourth championship contender, Truex, ended the race in 12th.
“I don’t know that you could have ever scripted it any better,” Busch said about beating Gordon for the championship in his final race. “For him to be in his last year and go out, I wish I could have beat him sooner in that time you know, when he was still running or had another year to go after it.”
The championship comes in the first year with crew chief Adam Stevens making the calls atop the pit box. Stevens and Busch were first paired in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, where they won dozens of races before Stevens was promoted to serve as Busch’s crew chief this year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
“Adam Stevens is my hero,” Busch said. “I love that guy. I’m glad I could get him that fifth win to get him a little bit of a raise for next year. That is pretty awesome.
“Adam Stevens made a phenomenal adjustment on that final pit stop to give me exactly what I needed to go out there and run some hard laps for eight laps and drive away,” Busch said.
It also isn’t the first championship for Joe Gibbs Racing, who claimed championships in 2000 with Bobby Labonte and 2002 and 2005 with Tony Stewart. The championship is the first for Toyota since entering the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2007. Toyota partnered with JGR in 2008.
“There are so many firsts to this,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “We have M&M’s, this is their first (title). They’ve been in racing 25 years. It’s Toyota’s first (title). We got Kyle’s first, we got Adam’s (Stevens) first, can you believe that? A rookie crew chief.”
The championship is Busch’s first, but not the first for the Busch family. Kyle’s older brother Kurt Busch won the championship during the very first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2004, making the Busch brothers just the second pair of brothers to win the championship. The Labonte brothers, Terry and Bobby, were the first pair to do it with Terry winning championships in 1984 and 1996 and Bobby winning the title in 2000.
