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Kyle Busch Now Second in Points After 10th-Place Result in Phoenix
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PHOENIX, AZ (April 12, 2008) – The stars were thought to be aligned for Kyle Busch and his No. 18 Snickers® team to make a return trip to victory lane in Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. However, it wasn’t meant to be. Busch fought through a long night of handling woes and brake issues to earn a 10th-place finish, his fifth top-10 in eight starts this season. Busch jumped one spot in the points standings and now sits second, 80 points behind Jeff Burton.
“Tight, tight, tight,” Busch exclaimed after the race. “That’s all I can tell you. We just couldn’t get this thing right all race long. I was getting killed off (Turn) Two and off (Turn) Four. I hate it for all these guys that work so hard on this car to try and make it right but we just couldn’t get it going. For some reason we just didn’t have the speed we needed all weekend. I wish we could’ve gotten another win in this Snickers Camry. But we’ll just have to wait on that. We’ll try to get that next one in Talladega in a couple of weeks.”
The green flag waved on the Subway Fresh Fit 500 Saturday night with Kyle Busch starting from the outside of row 3 in the sixth spot. He steadily worked his way to the front until he reached second by lap 22. His progress stalled and he began to lose positions through the long green-flag run, as his car was tight around the entire race track.
The first pit stop of the night for Busch was unusually long and dropped him just outside the top-10. He would stay there for nearly 50 laps until he caught a break with a caution on lap 113. He was able to gain a few positions due to a couple drivers in front of him getting caught on pit road when the yellow flagged waved. Busch’s crew made up for their previous stop to gain him one position after their service, and he restarted in sixth.
From that point, Busch’s car began to handle slightly better, and he maintained a position within the top 10 for the remainder of the race. The team did experience a few scares throughout the race that threatened their performance. The fuel gauge began to malfunction near the halfway point in the race, Kyle ran over a part from another car on lap 233 that damaged the front grill area, and he lost substantial braking power late in the race as well. Fortunately, none of the problems were terminal, and Busch continued on.
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Busch appeared to be poised for a top-five finish with nearly 100 laps to go. But his Camry began to tighten up severely and his drive to the front was stalled again.
The end of the race saw teams making short green-flag pit stops for fuel only. Crew chief Steve Addington waited as long as he could before bringing his driver in for service, hoping a late caution might make things a little easier. Busch pulled in on lap 304 of 312 for his “splash and go” pit stop, running in fourth. Unfortunately, after all the stops cycled through, Busch would find himself in ninth. He lost one more position in the final laps to finish 10th. Even though it may not have been the result Busch was looking for, his performance was strong enough to bump him to second in the points standings behind leader Jeff Burton.
Denny Hamlin was the top-finishing Joe Gibbs Racing driver with a third-place finish. Tony Stewart struggled to find the right balance in his race car but managed a 14th-place finish after a long night of work.
Defending Sprint Cup Series Champion, Jimmie Johnson, earned his first victory of the season by taking the checkered flag in the Subway Fresh Fit 500. Clint Bowyer finished second. Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and series veteran, Mark Martin, rounded out the top five results.
Kyle Busch will travel south of the border next weekend to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race next Sunday, while his No. 18 M&M’S® Sprint Cup team will have the weekend off. The Sprint Cup Series will resume action on Sunday, April 27 at the Talladega Superspeedway for the Aaron’s 499. Race coverage will begin at 1:30pm EDT on the FOX television network, with the green flag waving at 2:00pm. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN).