Kyle Busch led just one lap – but it was the right one. The nine-time Bristol winner passed both Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe, who tangled on the final corners, to score his first victory of the season. With the win, Busch has now won in 18 consecutive seasons – tying Richard Petty for the most all-time. It was Busch’s 60th career Cup Series victory.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt
Race 9 of 36 – 125 miles, 250 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, Tyler Reddick*
3rd, Joey Logano*
4th, Kyle Larson*
5th, Ryan Blaney*
7th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
21st, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
28th, BUBBA WALLACE
32nd, KURT BUSCH
35th, DENNY HAMLIN
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crunchy Cookie Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
Did you ever think you would win one like you did tonight?
“Yeah, we backed into that one didn’t we. Sure feels good just to get a win. It’s been a little bit of a long time here, but overall, just a great day. Really appreciate – just proud of the guys. They work hard. We all work hard. We all work way too hard. There’s not a lot of rewards in the sport except winning. You could come home with a second-place day and not get everything that you wanted from the day and from what you put into it. It’s always good when you win. I appreciate M&M’s and this Crunchy Cookie Camry TRD. It was awesome to keep pace with those two. I don’t know why our car would not refire after the rain both times. I was leading on the first big rain delay coming back and I fell to eighth and I was able to drive back through on the long run and get back into position. Then on that one again, same thing and I fell off and couldn’t hang. It got me about 20 laps to get going, but overall, just great to get back in victory lane. Thank you to Rowdy Energy, Toyota, Interstate Batteries, Sport Clips, DeWalt, Breathe Right Nasal Strips, everybody that gets us here.”
What does tonight show what you’ve learned about dirt racing and the new car?
“The biggest thing was just trying to stay in contention. Those restarts were really helpful when you had an outside restart. When we come back, we need to somehow figure out how to do a choose rule because you just get burned on the inside. Overall, I think that was the biggest thing we learned. There were definitely some things we could improve on. I think the 14 (Chase Briscoe) was arguably the best car. He ran down the 8 (Tyler Reddick) there at the end. It’s just so hard to pass once you get into that rhythm. That right rear in that sticky up top. It’s hard to out accelerate that off the corner with momentum or anything from the bottom of the racetrack. I knew if there was going to be a move being made it was going to be contact being made with how aggressive I know Reddick is as well. Again, just kept myself in the game. It reminded me of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin at California. Sometimes the seas part ways and you get one, so I’ll take it.”
TRD PR
