On a steamy Saturday night in Georgia, Kyle Busch posted his eighth top-10 NASCAR Nationwide Series finish in 11 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) in Hampton. Busch started the day strong with a third-place qualifying position on the 1.54-mile track, with a 30.888 second lap at 179.487 mph. The No. 54 Monster Energy Camry fought Busch with loose and tight car conditions that ultimately led to a fourth-place finish. The result was Busch’s 17th top-five finish in 18 races this year.
During on-track practice sessions Friday night, the No. 54 Monster Energy team knew they had a car with a testy disposition. Through changes with various spring and shock setups, they prepared the Camry carefully. The team predicted the car would be fast, but knew that Busch didn’t have the complete feel he was looking for. They expected to make adjustments on the car throughout the race.
Race day in Atlanta was one of the hottest felt so far this season, with temperatures in the upper 90s, which had drivers paying close attention to their hydration. Upon taking the green flag, from the third position, Busch immediately lost spots to sixth-place when he reported back to his crew, “We have a long night ahead of us. I’m loose, can’t hold the line with the rear. ” Busch knew right away the car handling would be a challenge to correct if they were to contend for the lead with the No. 5 car of ultimate race winner Kevin Harvick.
A few laps later the Monster Energy machine brushed the wall and with some damage to the right-rear quarter panel, Busch reported his No. 54 machine was actually better. “Well we tightened it up with the wall,” Busch reported to crew chief Adam Stevens before continuing a few laps later, “believe it or not we are loose again.” Lap 51 afforded the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team with an opportunity to visit pit road and service the black Monster Energy Camry with fresh Sunoco fuel, Goodyear racing tires and a track bar adjustment. The team was scored in seventh place after the pit stop service.
A subsequent yellow-flag occurred at lap 71 and Busch remarked, “The car took off better after that last stop, but could be tighter still.” Stevens prepared his team for the pit road visit which occurred at lap 74 before returning his driver to the field in seventh place. Another 20 laps expired in the race and Busch continued to battle car conditions with feedback to the team, “We are getting the rear into the track, but the front is hard to turn.” Further adjustments were made at lap 121 when the crew decided to throw several changes to the car setup in a last effort to give Busch the handling he needed to improve track position from seventh place.
A brief rain delay under caution-flag conditions ensued with a green-flag restart at lap 134 of the scheduled 195-lap event. Busch jumped to fifth place but didn’t move around much further as the closing laps approached. Lap 175 under green-flag racing brought the team’s last effort to correct adjustments on their Toyota Camry. While other competitors cycled through their pit stop sequences, the No. 54 moved up the scoreboard to third place. Busch remained there until he was passed by the No. 42 of Kyle Larson in the last 15 laps of the night’s event. Without any further caution periods to bunch up the field, the No. 54 Monster Energy entry brought home a fourth place, their 20th top-five finish in 24 races this season.
When interviewed post-race Busch described his night, “Fourth in Nationwide is not acceptable. We really fought an ill-handling car all night. It just didn’t quite have anything that we wanted–no grip really in our Monster Energy Camry. It wasn’t that it was too loose, it just was everything. We made a bunch of changes and found some things that helped us, that got us going. Really crazy night, I didn’t expect that whatsoever. I thought we had a pretty decent race car, but man fought it really bad. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) made some really good calls throughout the night; we adjusted on them and got some things going in the right direction for us. There at the end I thought we were running competitive lap times, but those lap times were still a tenth of a second off the guys up front. But man, there are a few cars out there that were ungodly fast and I think it’s three or four wins in a row now for Kevin (Harvick) here, so obviously he and Ernie Cope (Harvick’s crew chief) have it figured out pretty well. We have some work to do, but getting another top-five for us. We’ll see what happens with owner’s points down the stretch.”
Harvick repeated victory on the Georgia oval as defending race winner from last year’s Great Clips 300 event, his 43rd win in 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series races. Joey Logano finished in second place while Larson, Busch and Chase Elliott completed the top-five finishers. There were two caution periods for 18 laps of the race along with one lead change across two drivers, Harvick and the pole-qualifier Elliott.
The No. 54 Monster Energy Camry owned by J.D. Gibbs remains second in the Owner’s Point standings, now 26 points from the lead.
The next event on the Nationwide Series schedule takes place at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway with the race television broadcast starting at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Busch will make his 19th start of the season behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Monster Energy Camry.
KBM PR
