Kyle Busch Finally Wins Cup Event at Charlotte

Kyle Busch celebrates in Victory Lane

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(CONCORD, NC – MAY 20, 2017 – RIS) Joe Gibbs Racing has over a million reasons to celebrate the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star weekend, thanks to wins by Daniel Suarez in the Open and then Kyle Busch's first victory in a top NASCAR series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch won the million-dollar

Clint bowyer won the pole for the evening's Monster Energy NASCAR Open race with a best speed on the second round of 189.474 mph. Second to Bowyer is Ryan Blaney at 188.009 mph, then Chase Elliott 0.150 slower and Austin Dillon heads AJ Allmendinger to finish out the top five. “Winning in the Open was a lot of fun," said Bowyer. "We had a good car tonight; our Haas Automation Ford was strong, and I’m just proud to be a part of it. In the All-Star Race you just couldn’t pass. It was tough. We gambled with two tires in Stage 3 and almost made it work. I think we’ll be really good next week in the 600.”

In the first stage of the Open, Bowyer gave team owner Tony Stewart a birthday gift by leading the entire stage to move on to the All-Star, his eighth.

Ryan Blaney repeated Bowyer's performance in the second stage, setting up a dramatic third stage. AJ Allmendinger pulled into the garage with a problem, followed by Gray Gaulding, whose car had been popping a crackling with what his father reported as a coil problem in the ignition system.

Just four laps from the finish, Erik Jones made an attempt to pass the leading pair of Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez but bottomed out on the infield, breaking something and causing a caution with three laps to run. Elliott had touched Suarez, almost spinning the Mexican driver, but backed out to allow Suarez a chance at maintaining control of the No. 19 Toyota. On the restart, Suarez moved out to the lead while Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott followed with Elliott moving abead by about six car lengths at the white fla but Dillon charged to the inside entering Turn Three to take second while Suarez motored to an easy win in Stage 3 to earn a spot in the All-Star. Regan Smith took fourth and Danica Patrick fifth.  “The car was just way too loose throughout the race," said Patrick. "Nothing seemed to help much at all. I wish we were racing in the All-Star Race tonight, but at least we were more competitive in the Open this year and learned some things for next weekend.”

"Now we go with the big guys," laughed Suarez in a post-race interview.

The fan vote to add a fourth Open challenger to the All-Star went to Chase Elliott

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS – Fan Vote for the All-Star Race  ON WINNING THE FAN VOTE: “It’s awesome to hear that crowd just then. That means a lot to me.  I appreciate you guys voting for me.  That is really cool for our team. Obviously, we would have loved to have raced our way in.  I feel like every time we run this race we’ve got some sort of drama with this year and last year, but have had a shot at it tonight.  We will try to move forward and give ourselves the best chance we can.”

DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE GOING TO BE THE FAN VOTE?  “No, I really didn’t know.  Nobody really shares any of that information with us, but it means a lot to me.  I appreciate everybody voting. Obviously, as a racer I would have loved to have raced my way in, but came close again this year, but we will try to go get them tonight when it counts.”

TALK ABOUT THE RACING TO GET IN: “Yeah, I was working my tail off to try to get by Ryan (Blaney) and Daniel (Suarez).  It was fun.  I wish I was on the good end of it, but I feel like our car was as good as Ryan and Daniel, maybe slightly better, I don’t know that I had anything for Clint (Bowyer), but it was wild.  I hope everybody enjoyed it because it was a handful, for me at least, I’m excited to be in the race and we will go get them.”

HOW ABOUT THE FANS VOTING FOR YOU: “Well, I just appreciate it.  I sent out a tweet earlier and I see the vote that come in on my Twitter timeline and I’m like, man that is so cool to see that.  When they announced it a second ago you hear the crowd and as a driver, as a racer, being a part of motorsports that is really cool.  My frustration with not winning and making it in is certainly made up by all the people sitting up there (in the stands) and watching at home.”

DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing How difficult was it on that last restart?
“It was very difficult. Actually today, I took the bottom and I said man, maybe I want the top. But I was thinking man the bottom has been stronger all day long and was a little dirty out there in corner one and two but I thought if I was going to have a - be able to have a good restart and be clear by corner one I was going to be fun and luckily we had a decent restart right there and it worked out well.”

How do you hit the restart button for this next race?
“Now we go with the big guys, so it’s going to be fun. I felt like we learn quite a bit in the first, the first fifty laps. Definitely we have to make some adjustments to be strong, but the race track is going to change a lot. We’ll see, let’s see what we got.”

What does it mean to make your first All-Star race?
“It means a lot. I’m very proud of these guys. They’ve been working super hard the entire week and yesterday we didn’t have the speed. Today we unloaded the car with a different setup and we just went out there to qualify and see what we had and luckily it worked out decent. We started the race super tight and we had to make some adjustments, but right there at the end I felt we were pretty decent.”

How was the racing in the closing laps with Chase Elliott?
“It was good, Chase (Elliott) did a really good job – he raced super clean, aggressive but clean and that’s exactly how I like to race. Actually he was a little faster than me so we have some work to do to improve a little more for tonight’s race.”

JOE GIBBS, owner, Joe Gibbs Racing
What does it mean to have Daniel Suárez advance to the All-Star race?
“I think each and every race for Daniel (Suarez), young guy and everything is a new experience. This is his first time here having a chance to do this. I think each and every one of these learning experiences; he seems to be stepping up bigger and better. Great for ARRIS, we appreciate them and everything they do for us. We’ve got Stanley and Subway on that car too. I think every one of these experiences are a great step for us and we appreciate everyone back at the race shop that works on the cars.”

ERIK JONES, No. 77 SiriusXM Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
What happened when you tried to pass Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez?
“Going down the backstretch I was hoping they would stay side-by-side and knew that I had been up by the wall a few times and had got some good runs and knew if they would stay side-by-side that I could get a really good one. I got a good run and tried to go to the top and there wasn’t any room on the top so I went to the bottom and couldn’t really see behind the 24 (Chase Elliott) where the grass began so just hoped there was enough pavement down there to make a move and get clear, but unfortunately there wasn’t and that was the end of our day. I knew if we could get out front that we could probably drive away from them, but it just didn’t work out.”

Ford driver quotes:
CLINT BOWYER – No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Fusion (STAGE 1 WINNER) – WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU?  “It’s big.  This is a big night.  A million bucks is a lot of money.  We’ve got a shot at it.  We’ve got a good car, our Haas Automation Ford is strong and I’m just proud to be a part of it.  This is without a doubt, I think, the toughest Open.  I think this is the third time I’ve had to run it and when you’ve got Blaney that qualifies really good, he’s always had speed, especially last week.  Looking back at Kansas he was one of the cars to beat, so you had Chase in it too.  It’s a tough crowd, so I’m proud to be in it.”

RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (STAGE 2 WINNER) – WAS THERE A DIFFERENT KIND OF PRESSURE TONIGHT TO GET INTO THE ALL-STAR RACE COMPARED TO A REGULAR WEEKEND?  “Honestly, I think it’s more pressure to just get in it than the Open.  Once you’re in it you’re just gonna race hard for a million bucks.  I was probably more nervous trying to hold Chase off there than I will be all night trying to get up through the field.  You want to have a chance to race for the money and the Open is our way to do it.  I didn’t want to do anything to blow that.  I think there was more pressure in the Open than the actual All-Star Race, but you never know.”

THE YOUNG GUYS PUT ON A GOOD SHOW IN THAT THIRD SEGMENT.  ARE WE GOING TO SEE THAT FROM YOU IN THE MAIN EVENT?  “Oh yeah.  You’ve got to if you’re gonna have a shot at it.  That was cool to watch Daniel, Erik and Chase go at it.  That was pretty neat to see, but you can definitely expect a show tonight for sure.”

Unofficial Results, 2017 All-st
Pos, St, Driver, Car, Laps, Led, Final Status, Points, Playoff Points
1) 2, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&Ms Caramel Toyota, 70, 10, Running, 0, 2
2) 1, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 70, 40, Running, 0, 7
3) 4, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, 70, 19, Running, 0, 10
4) 5, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Busch Chevrolet, 70, 0, Running, 0, 5
5) 10, Jamie Mcmurray, No. 1 McDonald's Chevrolet, 70, 0, Running, 0, 0
6) 3, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Chevrolet, 70, 0, Running, 0, 3
7) 20, Chase Elliott, No. 24 Mtn Dew Chevrolet, 70, 0, Running, 0, 2
8) 12, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Oil Ford, 70, 0, Running, 0, 1
9) 7, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 70, 0, Running, 0, 12
10) 9, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Fed-Ex Toyota, 66, 0, Running, 0, 1
11) 18, Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Quick Lane Ford, 60, 1, Off, 0, 3
12) 14, Martin Truex Jr, No. 78 Five-Hour Energy Toyota, 60, 0, Off, 0, 15
13) 17, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas Toyota, 60, 0, Off, 0, 0
14) 16, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, No. 17Fastenal Ford, 60, 0, Off, 0, 5
15) 19, Daniel Suarez, No. 19 Arris Toyota, 60, 0, Off, 0, 0
16) 13, Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Mtn Dew Chevrolet, 60, 0, Off, 0, 0
17) 11, Chris Buescher, No. 37 Bush's Chevrolet, 60, 0, Off, 0, 0
18) 6, Dale Earnhardt Jr, No. 88 Maaco Chevrolet, 60, 0, Off, 0, 0
19) 1, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Grainger Chevrolet, 55, 70, Accident, 0, 5
20) 8, Matt Kenseth, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota, 20, 0, Oil Cooler, 0, 1