Sports

Busch wins Nationwide Series race at Charlotte

admin Contributor
Font Size:

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Busch would like to keep driving in the Nationwide Series — and for good reason.

The defending series champ has won two consecutive races, four of the last eight events and has moved within a point of leader Brad Keselowski.

But he has a bigger goal to chase this year: a Sprint Cup championship.

Busch overcame some early troubles to win the Nationwide race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday. It was his final race in the second-tier series for three weeks. He’s planning to step away to focus solely on the Cup series. It’s a tough call, especially now.

“I thought we had a great year last year in winning the championship, setting a lot of records and doing what we did then,” Busch said. “There’s no question we couldn’t do it again. I’d like to do it, but it’s time … you’ve got to win a Cup championship.

“For us, I feel like we’re in the best position we can be this year. I’m real excited about the summer months. I’m going to miss running in the Nationwide car, but yet I’m pretty pumped about what we can have in the Cup car.”

Busch is second in the Cup points standings, and he and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin have combined for five victories in the last seven races.

Busch has been just as good in the Nationwide ranks.

Even when he fell two laps down Saturday, he stayed calm and told his crew they could do something they’ve never done before.

“Let’s do it,” Busch said.

Then he did. Busch battled back for his fifth win of the season, holding off Keselowski and others in three late restarts that included a green-white-checkered finish. Keselowski was second, followed by Joey Logano, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick.

“It was all about the restart and he just beat us,” said Keselowski, who was hoping to get team owner Roger Penske’s big weekend off to a strong start.

Busch went a lap down after an unscheduled pit stop early and dropped another lap when he got penalized for speeding on pit road. Showing plenty of poise, Busch got back on the lead lap, moved to the front with a speedy pit stop late and then held on over the final 64 laps.

The pit stop was so fast that it vaulted Busch from fourth to first.

“That was a pivotal stop there,” Busch said.

It was so quick that crew chief Jason Ratcliff wasn’t even sure crew members got enough gas into the car to make it the rest of the way.

“I think Jason and Kyle create things to make it more interesting,” said team president J.D. Gibbs.

Ratcliff called for Busch to stay on the track when others pitted with about 15 laps to go. But none of those cars had anything for the leader.

Keselowski also stayed out and had one last chance on the final restart, but Busch held him off thanks to some blocking help from teammate Logano.

“Not enough again,” Logano said. “I wish we could have turned it up just a little bit and would have at least something for him. Just not fast enough. We had a third-place car and we finished third. We can’t be disappointed about it, but I just really want to win. We’ve come close over and over. I just want to win one of these things.”

Keselowski remained the series points leader and might be able to pull away as Busch steps away.

“I’m really going to miss him,” Keselowski said. “We bring out the best and worse in each other.”

Busch called walking away a “bummer,” but said it was something he needed to do to avoid the strain that would come with trying to drive both series at different tracks over the next month.

“I would love to race them all,” he said. “But we’ve got bigger and better things on Sundays. We’re going after that championship over there. We’ve got a good start to the season. We just need to finish it off.”

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel