Kurt Busch’s No. 78 Chevrolet SS was one of the fastest cars in Sunday’s race, but the day started to go haywire for the 2004 Sprint Cup champion during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 35.
Busch entered pit road too fast, and NASCAR assessed a pass-through penalty for speeding. Busch compounded the problem by speeding on entry during the pass-through and earned a stop-and-go penalty that left him a lap down.
Busch regained the lost lap when race winner Martin Truex Jr. came to pit road on Lap 62, and a caution on the following circuit gave him a chance to begin a methodical climb through the field.
“Yeah, we were fast, even on pit road—twice,” Busch quipped. “I messed up, flat out. I didn’t hit my tachometer right, and I was speeding both times. It was one of those (times) where I’m like, ‘How does this happen?’…
“We did get back on the lead lap when (Truex) pitted, but we had to battle hard. You’ve got to rub guys and move guys, and we gave guys room and just made one mistake (during the charge through the field). I think we could have gotten all the way up to second, but we never would have caught Truex.”
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