It took 34 races and the tank of gas packed full to the brim, but Kyle Busch finally got his first win of the NASCAR Cup Series season.
The veteran and defending champion used a plethora of laps to save fuel and earn the victory after rain delayed the visit to Texas Motor Speedway to Wednesday night.
Busch’s victory at Texas is his 57th of his career and continues a streak that is 16 years old, winning at least once during every season dating back to 2005.
The win for Busch, however, did darken the season a bit for Martin Truex Jr. – who finished in the runner-up position to Busch.
A win would have clinched a birth into the Championship 4 for the No. 19 team, but instead they’ll go into next week’s race at Martinsville looking at a must-win.
That’s the case for a plethora of drivers, as well.
Chase Elliott had to re-pit after one of his tires blew straight outside of a pit stop. Alex Bowman lead laps on Wednesday at Texas, but got shuffled out of the front of the pack due to an incident on pit road. Both of them sit 25 points outside of the cutoff. Truex Jr. is 36 away.
Martinsville is going to be a dog fight.
That’s not to skip over the run that Christopher Bell had on Wednesday, though.
Bell, driving a No. 95 Leavine Family Racing team that paid homage to its original, 10-year-old paint scheme before the team shuts down at the end of the year, ran third and nearly contended for the win.
It was the best finish of Bell’s Cup Series career and maybe the best drive the No. 95 has seen since Matt DiBenedetto ran second at Bristol in 2019.
With the season nearly wrapped up, that had to feel good for the 95 crew, but for the four drivers outside of the Championship 4 cutoff, Martinsville is on the top of everyone’s mind.
The series will return to the track at the Paper Clip on Sunday, scheduled to run at 1:00 p.m. CT on NBC.
2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid | |||
With 1 race remaining in semifinal round | |||
Position | Driver | Cutoff | |
1 | Joey Logano | x | |
2 | Kevin Harvick | +42 | |
3 | Denny Hamlin | +27 | |
4 | Brad Keselowski | +25 | |
Playoff Cutoff | |||
5 | Chase Elliott | -25 | |
6 | Alex Bowman | -25 | |
7 | Martin Truex Jr. | -36 | |
8 | Kurt Busch | -81 |
NASCAR Texas Results
1. Kyle Busch
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Christopher Bell
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Alex Bowman
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Kurt Busch
8. Matt DiBenedetto
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Joey Logano
11. Austin Dillon
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13. William Byron
14. Cole Custer
15. Tyler Reddick
16. Kevin Harvick
17. Clint Bowyer
18. Ryan Preece
19. Ryan Newman
20. Chase Elliott
21. Erik Jones
22. John H. Nemechek
23. Aric Almirola
24. Ty Dillon
25. Corey Lajoie
26. Michael McDowell
27. Daniel Suarez
28. Brennan Poole
29. Josh Bilicki
30. Timmy Hill
31. Garrett Smithley
32. Reed Sorenson
33. Quin Houff
34. Chad Finchum
35. Chris Buescher
36. Jimmie Johnson
37. Joey Gase
38. Bubba Wallace
39. Matt Kenseth
40. J.J. Yeley