Kyle Busch Scores First Top Five Since Atlanta

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

A normal race weekend for Kyle Busch have been hard to come by throughout the NASCAR Cup Series season. Sunday’s WÜRTH 400 at Dover Motor Speedway was one of the more stronger all-around weekends Busch has had in quite some time, finishing fourth after starting from pole.

Earlier on, Busch led the 37-car field to green and held onto the top spot for the first 33 laps. Busch would lose the race lead to Ryan Blaney and would only lead a single lap the rest of the day as his No. 8 FICO Chevrolet wasn’t able to contend for the win.

Despite not being a true factor in the race, Busch racked up nine stage points and overcame several hurdles to grab a valuable top-five and improve from 17th to 11th in the regular season points standings.

Considering how troubling Busch’s campaign has been with four finishes outside the top-20 this season, a top-five result was a breath of fresh air as he hasn’t scored a top-five since the thrilling three-wide finish in Atlanta two months ago.

“Good day for the 8 car. Good solid points day, I guess. That is a normal day. I would love to have a lot more normal days. We just can’t seem to get any,” Busch explained.

“Proud of everybody on this FICO Chevrolet. I feel like if we came off of pit road there at the end with the clean racetrack, the way that it was, being able to just charge forward, try to catch these leaders, that was probably going to be our best bet to run them down and race with them.

“Definitely had a third-place car today. Having to come from eighth to fourth on the final run was tough. That’s all we had.”

After the race, Busch told the press about how bad aero blocking has become, citing his battles with Noah Gragson and Martin Truex, Jr. being the culprit of having a better result.

Compared to most years however, Busch remarked cars are able to move around Dover much easier, but dealing with aero block has made passing difficult. Drivers like Kyle Larson also shed into his comments after being unable to pass Denny Hamlin for the win.

“The aero blocking is so bad, is so bad,” said Busch. “Everybody knows it and uses it as a defense item. We lost a straightaway to the 19 and that’s what frustrated me the most. He was slow and just would not give an inch in order for me able to go by, and about wrecked us twice off of (Turn) 2.”

Busch will look to get his first win of the season at Kansas Speedway Sunday, May 5 (3 p.m. ET on FS1). In 32 previous starts, Busch has two wins, both taking place in the spring (2016 and 2021).