Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry Race Recap for the Drydene 400

Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 2 Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-120):

Kyle Busch started 18th and finished eighth.

● Busch had worked his way up to 12th by lap nine.

● The Interstate Batteries driver moved into the top-10 on lap 43.

● Busch came down pit road for the first time on lap 76, taking on four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment to help with a lack of grip.

● Busch kept his Interstate Batteries Toyota within the top-10 and finished Stage 1 in eighth.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 121-240):

Started 18th, finished 12th.

The Interstate Batteries driver came down pit road on lap 123 following the stage break, taking on four tires, fuel and another air pressure adjustment. However, Busch was penalized by NASCAR for being too fast entering pit road, sending him to the tail end of the longest line for the start of Stage 2.

● Busch went back to work and moved his way up through the field. He got into the top-15 by lap 138.

● Crew chief Adam Stevens called the No. 18 to pit road on lap 183 to take on tires and fuel. Busch continued to chip away at the cars in front of him, moving up to 12th by lap 190 and settling into that spot for the remainder of the stage.

 

Stage 3 Recap (Laps 241-400):

Started 10th, finished sixth.

The 2015 NASCAR Cup Series champion came to pit road on lap 244, taking on four tires, fuel and a slight air pressure adjustment. He started the final stage in the 10th position.

The Interstate Batteries driver held his ground within the top-10 for much of the final stage, moving up to eighth by lap 297.

Busch was called to pit road on lap 320 for what would be the team’s final stop of the race, taking on four tires and more air pressure.

Busch found himself up to sixth once green-flag pit stops cycled out.

The race went caution-free for the final 160 laps. Busch was able to bring home a solid sixth-place finish, a strong start to the Round of 12 of the playoffs.

 

Notes:

● Busch’s sixth-place finish was his 23rd top-10 of 2019 and his 19th top-10 at Dover in 30 starts at the mile oval.

 

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:

“That’s about all I could get out of our Interstate Batteries Camry. It doesn’t help when you speed on pit road, so we were able to recover and drive our butts off to get back to where we did. We had a little bit better of a car than we thought we had in practice, so Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the guys did a great job getting it ready to race from Friday’s practice, made some good adjustments for the race and executed well.”

 

Team Interstate Results:

● Martin Truex Jr. finished second.

Denny Hamlin finished fifth.

● Kyle Busch finished sixth.

● Erik Jones finished 15th.

 

Next Up: The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the 1000Bulbs.com 500 on Sunday, Oct. 13 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The race starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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