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Busch Upbeat After Near-Miss; Credits Bell for Passing the Right Way

Toby Christie

Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kyle Busch did not look like a driver in the midst of a 59-race winless skid in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. In fact, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet looked like his old dominant self in the race around the 2.4-mile road course in Austin, TX.

Busch led a race-high 42 laps, and looked to be heading to his first victory since his final triumph of a three-win 2023 campaign, a win which came at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. However, a late-race caution involving eventual winner Christopher Bell's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, and Busch's Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon in Turn 6A with 17 laps to go changed everything.

A seemingly confortable cushion on William Byron for the race lead was gone in an instant.

"[I] hated to see that yellow that came out," Busch said in a post-race interview on FOX. "I felt like we had a little bit of a gap there, enough of a gap that I was protecting my tires. I could run all of the lines I wanted to run. I didn't have to run defensive lines and really use up my stuff..."

When the race went back to green with 12 laps to go, Busch found himself in no position to save his tires as he was immediately under siege as last year's COTA race winner William Byron, and Christopher Bell, who had two-lap fresher tires than Busch, came to life and were breathing down his neck.

Bell would climb to the runner-up spot on the initial restart, and he would begin to apply pressure on Busch for the race lead. Lap after lap the battle between Busch and Bell felt like a pressure cooker about to burst.

Busch was determined to win, but Bell had the faster car at that point in the race. Try as he might, and Busch tried plenty over a six-lap stretch, to hold Bell at bay, Bell finally worked his way around Busch with six laps remaining in what would turn out to be the race-winning move.

The pass with six laps to go gave Bell control of the race, which allowed him to close out his second-consecutive victory, but it was slight contact with Bell as Busch was trying to defend in the closing laps, which ended his hopes for a win.

"The contact we made with [Bell] there between [Turns] 2 and 3 bent the right rear, and it was a completely different race car after that," Busch explained. "So, hate it for all the guys and everybody with Rowdy Nation, and RCR."

He may have come up shy of his quest for a 64th career NASCAR Cup Series win on Sunday as he faded down the stretch to finish fifth, but the driver was encouraged by the effort shown by his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team all weekend, which put Busch in a position to flash the ability that has allowed him to become regarded as one of the most talented racers to ever strap into a NASCAR stock car.

"We've got the grit. We're from Welcome [North Carolina], and we're going to outwork anybody there is to work," Busch said of his race team. "The guys did a phenomenal job with the race car that we brought to the race track. Unloading, just not the way I wanted it, and being able to make as many adjustments as we did there in practice and qualifying, and then there in the race having a really good race car. I can't say enough about [crew chief] Randall [Burnett] and all the guys."

In an interview with PRN Radio, Busch continued to express optimism over the performance on Sunday, "If we can keep getting top-fives and leading laps like that, the wins will come."

While the battle for the win in the closing laps against Bell was intense, it was also a showcase of how racing for the win in the closing laps between two of the best drivers in the world should be. Be

After collecting the checkered flag, Bell indicated that an on-track run-in with Busch and a subsequent confrontation with the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion on pit road following this race a season ago was on his mind as he battled Busch for the win.

Here was the scene between Bell and Busch following last year's race at Circuit of the Americas:

"Whenever Kyle was leading, I was just trying to be so cautious," Bell stated. "Obviously we know what happened last year. I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to pass him clean. He was just doing such a good job at running his race, and he could get off the corners just good enough that I couldn’t get inside of him. But there I started peeking a nose, and he bobbled and allowed me to get out front."

Busch's thoughts about Bell following Sunday's race were a stark difference from what he felt a season ago.

"I'll give Christopher credit though where credit is due. He ran me really hard, and I was a complete butthead, but he did a great job working me over and just doing it the right way and being able to get by," Busch admitted. "Congrats to him, good job to the 20 bunch, but I wish it was us."

At the end of the day, even though his losing streak grew to 60 races, Busch put together one of his most complete races since his last trip to victory lane on Sunday. And the attitude from Busch was one filled with optimism. Expect Busch to snap his winless drought sooner rather than later.

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Toby Christie
TOBY CHRISTIE

Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.

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