Kyle Busch Bows In Win For Childress at Fontana
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FONTANA, CA – RIS – Kyle Busch proved to the doubters that he could win at RCR after so many successful seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing. In Toyotas. On Sunday, he sent California off with the final race at the two-mile California Speedway with a three second win over Chase Elliott. Although he had speed all day, the win came late in the race.
Busch, NASCAR's highest-profile free agent come the end of 2022, captured his first checkered flag as a part of Richard Childress Racing at Fontana on Sunday. The future Hall of Famer was fairly dominant, taking the lead from Stage 1 and 2 winner Ross Chastain before cruising to a comfortable victory over H Elliott, who finished in a distant second place.
One week removed from his showing at Daytona, a race that he very well could have won had it not been for late race collisions, Busch was locked in from the opening salvo. A second-stage wreck which knocked out a handful of drivers made the race that much more open for Rowdy.
Busch had a slight scare from Michael McDowell, who opted to stay out on the track rather than head to pit road in the hopes of willing a caution flag to be waved in Stage 3. That caution flag wouldn't be waved, though. And once Busch flew past the No. 34 car, it seemed only a matter of time before he ended up in the winner's circle.
"Sometimes you do [doubt yourself]. You kinda get down on it and you wonder what's going on and what's happening," Busch said post-race. "You put yourself in a different situation and you're able to come out here and reward your guys. ... It's awesome to be able to reward them."
Confirming the wisdom of putting him in RCR’s top car, Busch dominated the final portion of Sunday’s race and made it clear he likely will be a front-line contender in their first season together.
Busch had the lead before the final round of green-flag stops, returned to the front after the stops and wasn’t challenged over the final miles. The victory gave Busch a significant record. It marked his 19th consecutive season winning at least one Cup race, giving him the all-time lead in that category. He was tied at 18 with Richard Petty.
A packed restart on lap 87 changed the face of the race as a chain-reaction crash enveloped nine cars. The accident appeared to start as leader Joey Logano made a slow restart, jamming traffic behind him and causing several cars to lose control. The cars of Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney absorbed the heaviest damage of those who remained on the track after the accident.
Ross Chastain led 29 laps and won the first stage over Ryan Blaney. Following in the top five were Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin. At the end of the second stage, Chastain again was in front, leading second-place Kyle Busch by six seconds. Chastain led 68 of the race’s first 130 laps.
Chastain had a superb day. He won Stages one and two and finished fourth. Daniel Suarez and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.
The win marked the 19th straight season — a record — Busch has won at least one Cup race.
This is the last the Cup cars and drivers will ever race on this track NASCAR will shutter it and replace it with a shorter track at some point, but for now the sanctioning body has no track in Southern California.
Unofficial Results: Pala Casino 400 - February 26, 2023, Auto Club Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 21, Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, 200, , 2, 3, 27, 5, 49, Running
2) 33, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 200, 10, 7, 1, 1, , 40, Running
3) 8, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet, 200, 1, 1, 5, 91, 2, 54, Running
4) 7, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, 200, 3, 5, , , , 47, Running
5) 10, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 GEARWRENCH Ford, 200, 8, 4, 2, 5, , 42, Running
6) 13, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, 200, 5, 6, 3, 11, , 42, Running
7) 16, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford, 200, , 9, 1, 2, , 32, Running
8) 4, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 200, 4, 8, 2, 17, , 39, Running
9) 28, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Coatings Chevrolet, 200, , , 1, 3, , 28, Running
10) 3, Joey Logano, No. 22 AAA Southern California Ford, 200, 7, 3, 6, 19, , 39, Running
11) 14, Martin Truex Jr, No. 19 Reser's Fine Foods Toyota, 200, 9, , , , , 28, Running
12) 2, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, No. 47 Ralphs/Tree Top Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 5, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Pala Casino Ford, 200, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 12, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 NEGU Chevrolet, 200, , 10, , , , 24, Running
15) 24, Harrison Burton, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford, 200, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 23, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 200, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 25, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford, 200, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 26, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford, 200, , , 1, 6, , 19, Running
19) 34, Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 31, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/MobilDelvac Ford, 200, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 29, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 20, Noah Gragson #, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet, 199, , , 1, 1, , 15, Running
23) 22, JJ Yeley, No. 15 ActOne Group Ford, 199, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 30, BJ McLeod, No. 78 American Hartford Gold Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 32, William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, 198, 6, , , , , 17, Running
26) 9, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Wurth Ford, 196, 2, , 2, 16, , 20, Running
27) 11, Cody Ware, No. 51 Biohaven Ford, 195, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 19, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Menards/Quaker State Ford, 194, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 15, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 185, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 18, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Leidos Toyota, 172, , , , , , 7, Engine
31) 36, Ty Dillon, No. 77 NationsGuard Chevrolet, 140, , , , , , 6, Engine
32) 1, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Sirius XM Toyota, 88, , , 1, 1, , 5, Accident
33) 27, Ryan Preece, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 87, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 35, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota, 87, , , , , , 3, Accident
35) 17, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 86, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 6, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Farmsmart Chevrolet, 75, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie
Race Distance: 200 Laps - 400. Miles
Time: 3 Hrs, 8 Mins, 5 Secs.
Average Speed: 127.603 MPH
Margin of Victory: 2.998 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 1, 12, 99, 48, 11, 24, 22, 4, 19, 9
Stage 2 Top 10: 1, 8, 22, 4, 99, 11, 9, 48, 6, 7
Comments: Kyle Busch won the 26th running of the Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway, his 61st victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Cautions: 8 for 38 laps;
Laps: 17-20 (Competition Caution [None]);
43-46 (No. 6, 7 Incident Backstretch [51]);
67-72 (Stage 1 Conclusion [14]);
76-79 (No. 16 Incident Backstretch [6]);
82-86 (No. 7 Spin Turn 4 [51]);
88-92 (No. 41, 20, 12, 10, 45, 51, 77, 31, 38 Incident Frontstretch [19]);
132-137 (Stage 2 Conclusion [42]);
142-145 (No. 77 Stopped on Track [19]).
Lead Changes: 28 among 13 drivers;
C. Bell 1;
A. Bowman 2-17;
R. Chastain 18-27;
J. Logano 28-29;
R. Blaney 30-42;
J. Logano 43;
R. Blaney 44-46;
R. Chastain 47-67;
A. Bowman 68;
R. Chastain 69-72;
D. Hamlin 73-74;
J. Logano 75-76;
A. Dillon 77-79;
N. Gragson # 80;
J. Logano 81-92;
D. Hamlin 93-97;
R. Chastain 98-132;
J. Logano 133;
K. Harvick 134-137;
K. Busch 138-141;
J. Logano 142;
K. Busch 143-144;
K. Harvick 145;
R. Chastain 146-166;
C. Elliott 167;
D. Hamlin 168-171;
B. Keselowski 172-173;
M. McDowell 174-179;
K. Busch 180-200.
Unofficial Points: Pala Casino 400, Auto Club Speedway
Pos. Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1) Ross Chastain 1 2 5 92 0 0 0 3 3
2) Joey Logano 22 2 -1 91 -1 1 0 0 0
3) Alex Bowman 48 2 2 80 -12 11 0 0 0
4) Kevin Harvick 4 2 4 79 -13 1 0 0 0
5) Daniel Suarez 99 2 7 77 -15 2 0 0 0
6) Chris Buescher 17 2 -4 74 -18 3 0 0 0
7) Ricky Stenhouse Jr 47 2 -4 73 -19 1 1 0 5
8) Kyle Busch 8 2 14 67 -25 6 1 0 5
9) Denny Hamlin 11 2 10 64 -28 3 0 0 0
10) Brad Keselowski 6 2 1 64 -28 0 0 1 1
11) Martin Truex Jr 19 2 -1 60 -32 4 0 0 0
12) Ryan Blaney 12 2 -5 57 -35 3 0 0 0
13) Corey LaJoie 7 2 2 51 -41 6 0 0 0
14) Chase Elliott 9 2 15 49 -43 2 0 0 0
15) Christopher Bell 20 2 -11 49 -43 0 0 0 0
16) Michael McDowell 34 2 5 40 -52 9 0 0 0
17) Ty Gibbs # 54 2 6 38 -54 2 0 0 0
18) Austin Cindric 2 2 -4 38 -54 0 0 0 0
19) AJ Allmendinger 16 2 -10 35 -57 3 0 0 0
20) Harrison Burton 21 2 6 35 -57 0 0 0 0
21) Todd Gilliland 38 2 3 35 -57 0 0 0 0
22) Cody Ware 51 2 -4 33 -59 2 0 0 0
23) Austin Dillon 3 2 10 32 -60 1 0 0 0
24) Kyle Larson 5 2 -7 32 -60 0 0 0 0
25) Aric Almirola 10 2 -12 31 -61 1 0 0 0
26) Bubba Wallace 23 2 -6 28 -64 3 0 0 0
27) Noah Gragson # 42 2 -2 28 -64 0 0 0 0
28) Travis Pastrana 1 -12 26 -66 2 0 0 0
29) William Byron 24 2 1 25 -67 1 0 0 0
30) Justin Haley 31 2 2 21 -71 4 0 0 0
31) BJ McLeod 78 2 0 20 -72 1 0 0 0
32) Erik Jones 43 2 3 19 -73 1 0 0 0
33) Chase Briscoe 14 2 1 19 -73 0 0 0 0
34) Ryan Preece 41 2 -7 15 -77 4 0 0 0
35) JJ Yeley 15 1 10 14 -78 1 0 0 0
36) Jimmie Johnson 1 -8 10 -82 4 0 0 0
37) Ty Dillon 77 2 0 7 -85 3 0 0 0
38) Tyler Reddick 45 2 -2 4 -88 3 0 0 0
39) Riley Herbst 1 -1 0 -92 4 0 0 0
40) Zane Smith 1 -1 0 -92 0 0 0 0
41) Conor Daly 1 -1 0 -92 0 0 0 0
42) Austin Hill 0 -1 0 -92 0 0 0 0
43) Chandler Smith 0 -1 0 -92 0 0 0 0
-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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