Kyle Busch and his No. 18 team battled back from plenty of adversity in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), scraped the wall on two different occasions and eventually fell a lap down early in Sunday’s 500-mile race. However, Busch and his M&M’s team fought their way back onto the lead lap with less than 50 laps to go in the scheduled distance. From there, Busch worked his way to the front to eventually bring home his third top-five finish over the course of the last five races.
“Our run to the front tonight there at the end was very impressive,” said Busch, who won the April 2013 race at Texas to score his first Sprint Cup win in the Lone Star State. “We weren’t very good to start the race today. I don’t know what happened to us from yesterday in final practice, because we were pretty good. We fought all day long with our M&M’s Camry. The guys did a phenomenal job getting the car fixed for me. They’ve gotten plenty of practice in this Chase. They did a great job. They got me a good car there at the end in order to battle back and come back for a fourth. I appreciate all the effort – all my M&M’s guys. They did a good job. It’s good to continue to fight like that and bring home a top-five.”
After starting ninth, Busch fought a very ill-handling car from the drop of the green flag, falling to as low as 17th by lap 59. Crew chief Dave Rogers kept making adjustments on Busch’s car, which had a very hard time turning with the front tires and was extremely tight-handling. After going a lap down on lap 126, things went from bad to worse; Busch scraped the outside SAFER Barrier exiting turn two. The slight damage made the car even more of a handful.
Still, Busch sat in 20th until more adversity struck on lap 195, when Busch again scraped the outside SAFER Barrier. The kiss of the wall caused a tire rub in the right rear and eventually cut the right-rear tire on lap 204, causing a caution.
Despite the multiple issues, Busch and his M&M’s team never gave up. They made numerous adjustments throughout the next 80 laps and had fought their way to the first position one lap down when the caution waved on lap 285, allowing Busch to get back on the lead lap.
He restarted 23rd on lap 290 and still sat at 20th on lap 312. However, an adjustment under a pit stop on lap 315 brought the M&M’s Camry to life. Busch joined the top-10 by lap 325 and was sixth by lap 331. He restarted third on the last restart of the day and eventually brought home an improbable fourth-place finish.
Busch’s JGR companions – Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry, and Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry – finished 10th and 25th, respectively.
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