Kyle Busch and the No. 54 Monster Energy team came away from week 11 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with a fifth-place finish at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The six-time 2013 winning Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team had high expectations on the concrete track appropriately named the ‘Monster Mile,’ after leading the race for 72 of 200 event laps. A late race caution period and a subsequent decision to visit pit road for four new tires, placed the No. 54 outside the top 10 at green-flag restart. Busch battled back towards the front and passed six cars over the waning laps, but ran out of time to reach the front of the field and finished in fifth place.
Busch qualified in third place for today’s 200-lap NASCAR Nationwide Series event. That wasn’t an indication of how fast the team would be for the 200-mile race. In Friday’s one and only practice session, the Toyota team didn’t take long to determine they had a really good car, at times dominating the speed charts 3/10th’s faster than the entire field.
That speed showed itself again after race start as Busch worked quickly to pursue the cars ahead of him, tracking down Sam Hornish Jr., then Austin Dillon and taking the lead by lap 36. The three-time ‘Monster Mile’ winning Nationwide Series driver wasn’t completely comfortable with his race car and described to the team a tight car condition that needed attention. Crew chief Adam Stevens prepared his crew for the first pit road visit of the day on lap 47 under a yellow-flag caution when Busch drove onto pit road from first place.
The car adjustments made during the first pit stop of the day felt good to Busch as he continued to lead the race, until a second round of pit stops took place around the event’s halfway mark. The black No. 54 machine visited pit road a second time for similar adjustments. At this point Busch asked for an ice pack to place inside his suit. With outside temperatures reaching 95 degrees, the heat inside Busch’s Camry reached upwards of 115 degrees, forcing the driver to remain aware of his body temperature.
The third event caution took place at lap 112. Still in the lead, Busch visited the team on pit road for new tires and fuel. After the stops completed the No. 54 was scored in second place. The only car that beat the Monster Energy crew off pit road was the No. 5 team who had only replaced two tires. Upon green flag restart, Stevens reminded Busch to save fuel where he could, in order to strengthen the team’s fuel strategy for end of race.
A subsequent fourth event caution and green flag restart on lap 135 gave the Toyota driver the chance to regain the lead from the No. 5 car. The additional laps under caution allowed the team to save enough fuel for race end which Stevens communicated to his veteran series driver. “We’re all good, however, don’t use more than you have to,” Stevens explained.
Unknown at the time, the fifth event caution on lap 161, would turn out to be the final one. As pit road opened for teams to visit, a discussion began between Busch and his team, who contemplated the visit. While the team knew they had enough fuel to bring them to the checkered flag, the decision focused on tires. Feedback between driver and crew chief centered on whether there were enough laps remaining to risk a pit road visit to replenish tires. After discussing it quickly, though, Busch felt the risk to spend time on pit road to take on four fresh tires and further car adjustments would strengthen his position and provide him additional track ‘grip.’
Unfortunately, the gamble didn’t pay off. With only 30 laps remaining at green-flag restart, from an 11th-place spot and without one final late-race caution period to bunch up the field, there was not enough time to reach the front of the pack. Busch gained six spots and reached fifth place by the time the checkered flag waived.
“It was my fault,” described a dejected Bush post race. “I wanted four tires, I wanted the grip. Those guys who took two tires didn’t fall off and we didn’t draw a late caution, so it hurt us,” he continued.
The No. 54 Monster Energy team owned by J.D. Gibbs maintains first place in the Owner’s Point standings, now leading the No. 7 of Kelley Earnhardt-Miller by 40 points.
Joey Logano won the event, his 19th NASCAR Nationwide Series win in 114 races. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth finished second and third respectively, with Trevor Bayne finishing fourth. There were five caution periods for 28 laps of the race along with nine lead changes across five drivers. Busch led three times for 72 laps earning him the 3M Lap Leader Award.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series competes again on June 8 in the DuPont Pioneer 250 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, with television broadcast starting at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. Drew Herring will make his first start behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Monster Energy Camry, scheduled to compete with the team in both Iowa Nationwide Series races this season.
KBM/JGR PR
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