Kyle Busch used miscommunication with his Richard Childress Racing team to win at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in double overtime under caution.
It was the second win of the season for Busch in his new No. 8 Chevrolet and his second career win at Talladega, within 15 years of each other. The two-time Cup champion didn’t even lead his first few laps of the race until the start of second overtime.
It was victory number 13 for RCR at Talladega, and team owner Richard Childress walked into the post-race press conference with an open bottle of champagne from his vineyard.
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Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 23, 2023 in Talladega, Alabama. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
But as the race headed into additional laps, Busch’s crew chief made a late call for Busch to come in for some gas. The message was received too late, and Busch had to save fuel just to make sure he could complete another two-lap sprint.
Bubba Wallace passed him and took the lead from the outside line, but was spun by Ryan Blaney to cause a multi-car pileup that automatically ended the race.
«Sometimes you have to get lucky. Some of these races come down to that,» Busch said. «You have to take them when they get in your way. The sea parted there as they came up the race track. I saw (Wallace) turn a little to the side and I said, ‘Get off the track.’ Let’s just lose him and try to see if he was ahead of (Blaney) by the time he called out!'»
Busch still had to go all the way around the track to take the checkered flag, and was urged by his crew to «Save! Save! Save!» the fuel from him.
He finally seemed to run out of fuel when he attempted to do a win burnout.
“We were sweating from being close…and I was like, ‘We have to bet. We’re up here.’ You have to take track position when you have it and go find what you can on restarts and see what happens. And lo and behold, it worked. So knock on wood for this.»
Kyle Busch celebrates at Victory Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series car race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 23, 2023, in Talladega, Alabama. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
NASCAR had to scrutinize the final finish order as Busch celebrated at the finish line. There were 57 lead changes.
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Team Penske’s Blaney took second place and seemed frustrated with Wallace, his close friend, for blocking him on the last lap.
«In my opinion, you do a triple move like that, triple block, and you can’t block three times,» Blaney said. «The runs are so big, and as the lead with Bubba, he’s trying to block what’s the right thing to do, but I think he moved three times. You don’t really have many of those. I’ve got to go somewhere.»
Wallace, who had team owner Michael Jordan watching from his pit booth, accepted responsibility.
«Close, close, close the block,» he said. «It’s not (Blaney’s) fault. Honestly, I thought he was going to leave me in the lurch coming back. I hate that I caused that. Man, I thought it would be a little different, obviously it wouldn’t screw up.»
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe was third, followed by RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski, while the Ford drivers went from second to fifth.
Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones was sixth in a Chevrolet, followed by Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and finally Christopher Bell, the Toyota driver with the best eighth-place finish.
The race was much calmer than Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, when two cars were blown up and Blaine Perkins remained hospitalized Sunday after his car rolled over at least six times in a crash fest.
The Cup stars were much cleaner on Sunday and the first multi-car crash didn’t occur until 48 laps to go when Noah Gragson crashed into the back of Harrison Burton, the leader at the time, to trigger a five-car pileup. .
The next caution came with five laps remaining when Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gave Corey Lajoie a hard push that rammed Lajoie into Joey Logano and sent Logano spinning into the wall. That sent the race into its first overtime, which was an immediate disaster.
A crew member of NASCAR Cup Series driver Todd Gilliland’s car looks on during the NASCAR Cup Series car race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 23, 2023, in Talladega, Alabama. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Ross Chastain pushed his car into the middle for a third lane and his car bounced off Gragson, who hit the wall to trigger the crash. Kyle Larson was brought down to the grass and his car spun into traffic to hit Ryan Preece with full contact.
That seventh caution sent Kevin Harvick, polesitter Denny Hamlin and Chastain to pit road for fuel to ensure they could compete in the second overtime. As the cars rolled around the 2.66-mile track under caution, Blaney radioed his Penske team that he didn’t think he had enough gas to make it to the finish line.
But when the race turned green, it was Ty Gibbs who ran out of fuel and immediately went off the line. Busch took the lead. Wallace moved forward briefly until Blaney spun him around.
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UNTIL NEXT TIME
NASCAR racing next Sunday at Dover International Speedway. Chase Elliott is the defending winner of the race.