Solid Outing for Busch at Phoenix

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In: NASCAR Cup Series News

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), scored a solid fifth-place finish Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway in the CampingWorld.com 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

Busch started eighth in the 43-car field and earned his sixth top-five in 25 career Sprint Cup starts at Phoenix, and his first top-five of 2015.

“It was an entertaining feel inside the racecar because of all the newness, the other cars around me,” Busch said. “Not having done restarts yet with this new aero package, combined with the lack of power, there were a lot of guys shifting using third gear through turns one and two. It made for a lot of variables. I had to build up a pattern to eliminate some of those variables. There were some anxious times, but all in all, I’m proud of our fifth-place finish today.”

From the drop of the green flag, Busch was able to work his way forward despite fighting a loose-handling racecar. Crew chief Tony Gibson called for a wedge adjustment along with routine service of four tires and fuel on the team’s first pit stop. Busch lost a handful of positions after a slow stop, but the adjustments proved to be what the Las Vegas native needed as he was able to overcome the setback and advance to the third position on lap 92.

Busch continued to maintain a presence inside the top-10 for the remainder of the race, recording lap times equal to and sometimes faster than the race leader. A strong charge in the middle of the event saw Busch advance to the second position at lap 205. He steadily chipped away at his deficit to the leader, teammate Kevin Harvick, until the caution flag waved on lap 288. Feeling they didn’t have enough to contend for the win, Busch and Gibson agreed that they would come to pit road for right-side tires and fuel. When others remained on the racetrack, Busch lined up 10th for the lap-295 restart. Busch put in a workman-like effort during the closing laps to position the Haas Automation Chevrolet in fifth when the checkered flag waved.

“We started our season today,” Busch said. “We got a top‑five finish. Now it’s on to the next group of races to where we will develop as a team and get stronger and stronger. If we can have a goal of shadowing Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childers, that’s the best objective to have right now. Myself, Tony Gibson, (lead engineer) Johnny Klausmeier, we’ll hit the books hard this week, figure out what we can do for Fontana, and we’ll go from there.”

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