CP MOTORSPORTS - BUSCH KEEPS HOT STREAK ALIVE WITH WEEKEND SWEEP AT TEXAS
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Over the past two weeks, Kyle Busch has done his channeled his inner T-Pain. The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota like the famous rapper has proved all he does is wins, wins, wins, no matter what. No matter which series Busch competes in, he seemingly has the hot foot each and every week.
Busch, who led only 34 laps, took the lead from Martin Truex, Jr, on the race's final restart to win his second race of the 2016 season. The victory is also Busch's second career victory at Texas Motor Speedway and the ninth time he has won both the Sprint Cup and Xfinity series races in the same weekend -- the most in NASCAR history.
Since Busch's leg injury in last season's Xfinity opener at Daytona, he has reeled off seven Sprint Cup wins and an astounding 21 top-ten finishes. Busch believes his injury may have brought everyone in his camp closer together.
"I think that it's just a part of everyone coming together," Busch said. "I think it's a part of the whole team. It's not just me, it's not just (wife) Samantha (Busch), but it's (crew chief) Adam Stevens, it's (team owner) Coach Gibbs, it's the organization and everyone rallying around us. It's my medical team, everyone that helped me, as well, getting me healthy, too, and forcing me to do the therapies and things like that and getting up in the morning and going and trying to get better faster.
"I think, too, things are clicking. Things are gelling, and it wouldn't be possible probably, like Joe (Gibbs) mentioned, without the relationship that Adam (Stevens) and I were able to spend gathering and gaining in the XFINITY Series. If we would have came into this Cup deal not really knowing each other, it probably wouldn't have been as good as it was. So I think that has been a huge part of it, as well, too.
"It's all worked real well, and it's been exciting to have the success that we've had as of late, and let's just keep it going."
Dale Earnhardt, Jr, finished a distant second place to Busch. The finish is his fourth top-ten of the season and his 17th career top-ten in 28 races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Earnhardt, Jr, spoke more praises for NASCAR's 2016 rules package following the runner-up effort.
"I enjoyed driving the car tonight," Earnhardt, Jr, said. "The car was very loose and very challenging but a lot of fun for me. Obviously our car was good, so passing guys -- we had a lot of passing, which with the '14 or '15 package, I'd have never got by Joey (Logano), so it was fun to have an opportunity to sort of set somebody up and get it by him there at the end, and that's due to the direction we went this year with the low downforce. Pretty cool.
Joey Logano, who is the owner of a victory at Texas, finished in third place. Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Martin Truex, Jr, led a race high 141 laps but could only muster a sixth place finish after gambling on pit strategy before the race's final restart.
Pole award winner Carl Edward led 124 laps and finished in seventh place with Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick rounding out the race's top ten finishers.
Busch's two victories put him in the early lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series points standings by just six points over six-time champion Jimmie Johnson as the series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway next Sunday.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 7
Unofficial Race Results for the 20Th Annual Duck Commander 500 - Saturday, April 9, 2016
Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 334 Laps - 501 Miles
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Status Tms Laps
1 15 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 334 44 4 123.9 Running 2 34
2 16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nationwide Chevrolet 334 39 113.9 Running
3 2 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 334 38 105.5 Running
4 11 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 334 37 105.1 Running
5 4 24 Chase Elliott # NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 334 37 1 94.9 Running 1 1
6 3 78 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota 334 37 2 132.6 Running 6 141
7 1 19 Carl Edwards Stanley Toyota 334 35 1 125.3 Running 4 124
8 17 5 Kasey Kahne Quicken Loans Chevrolet 334 33 84.6 Running
9 21 41 Kurt Busch Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet 334 32 84.6 Running
10 22 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's Chevrolet 334 32 1 97.3 Running 1 1
11 9 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 334 31 1 110.5 Running 2 20
12 6 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 334 29 89.5 Running
13 18 1 Jamie McMurray Bad Boy Off Road Chevrolet 334 28 82.7 Running
14 20 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 334 27 72.0 Running
15 12 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 334 27 1 76.1 Running 1 12
16 5 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Zest Ford 334 25 89.3 Running
17 19 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 333 24 66.6 Running
18 8 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford 332 23 79.1 Running
19 10 3 Austin Dillon DOW - FlexsoLyt Chevrolet 332 22 73.8 Running
20 30 95 Ty Dillon(i) Nexium 24HR Chevrolet 332 0 56.7 Running
21 26 10 Danica Patrick Nature's Bakery Chevrolet 332 20 57.7 Running
22 23 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger/Bush's Beans Chevrolet 332 19 60.5 Running
23 32 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 332 18 57.0 Running
24 24 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 331 17 49.9 Running
25 33 38 Landon Cassill MDS Transport Ford 330 16 44.6 Running
26 25 27 Paul Menard Rockstar Energy/Menards Chevrolet 330 15 52.6 Running
27 27 44 Brian Scott # Albertons Co./Shore Lodge Ford 330 14 47.3 Running
28 34 34 Chris Buescher # Love?s Travel Stops Ford 330 13 41.8 Running
29 7 21 * Ryan Blaney # Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 330 12 65.1 Running
30 37 98 * Cole Whitt Chevrolet 329 11 35.7 Running
31 28 7 Regan Smith Fire Alarm Services Inc. Chevrolet 329 10 45.8 Running
32 35 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 329 9 34.2 Running
33 31 23 David Ragan Dr Pepper Toyota 328 9 1 36.7 Running 1 1
34 29 83 Matt DiBenedetto Cosmo Motors Toyota 327 7 32.4 Running
35 38 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt # Can-Am Ford 323 6 28.8 Running
36 40 55 * Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 315 5 26.2 Running
37 13 14 Brian Vickers TaxAct Military Files Free Chevrolet 290 4 65.9 Accident
38 36 15 Clint Bowyer Visine Chevrolet 289 3 40.7 Accident
39 14 16 Greg Biffle Kleen Performance Ford 286 2 57.2 Accident
40 39 30 * Josh Wise CrawfestNB.com Chevrolet 178 1 23.8 Accident
Race Comments: Kyle Busch won the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, his 36th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 24 (transmission change).
Failed to Qualify: N/A
Time of Race: 03 Hrs, 37 Mins, 16 Secs. Average Speed: 138.355 MPH Margin of Victory: 3.904 Seconds
Caution Flags: 7 for 41 laps: Laps: 1-5 (Green/Yellow Start [None]); 30-33 (Competition [32]); 136-141 (Debris Turn 4 [6]); 212-221 (#30 Accident Turn 3 [88]); 280-284 (Debris Fronstretch [5]); 289-292 (#16, 5 Accident Turn 2 [19]); 295-301 (#3, 27, 7, 46, 14, 31, 17, 48, 15, 20, 6, 44, 23 Accident Backstretch [42]).
Lead Changes: 17 among 8 drivers: C. Edwards 1-30; D. Ragan 31; C. Edwards 32-58; M. Truex Jr. 59-72; M. Kenseth 73; C. Elliott # 74; M. Truex Jr. 75-137; C. Edwards 138-174; M. Truex Jr. 175-176; Kyle Busch 177; K. Harvick 178; C. Edwards 179-208; M. Truex Jr. 209-216; M. Kenseth 217-235; M. Truex Jr. 236-259; T. Bayne 260-271; M. Truex Jr. 272-301; Kyle Busch 302-334.
Chase Grid Outlook: 1.Kyle Busch 259 (2 wins);2.J. Johnson 253 (2);3.K. Harvick 252 (1);4.D. Hamlin 201 (1);5.B. Keselowski 201 (1);6.C. Edwards 241 (0);7.J. Logano 234 (0);8.D. Earnhardt Jr. 211 (0);9.Kurt Busch 208 (0);10.A. Dillon 198 (0);11.M. Truex Jr. 187 (0);12.M. Kenseth 171 (0);13.J. Mcmurray 171 (0);14.C. Elliott # 168 (0);15.A. Allmendinger 166 (0);16.K. Kahne 161 (0).
American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award : Kyle Busch, #18 Coors Light Pole Award : Carl Edwards, #19 194.609 mph
Ingersoll Rand Power Move : Dale Earnhardt Jr, #88 3 positions Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Toyota Racing Development (TRD), #19
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race : Kyle Busch, #18 Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race : Chase Elliott, #24 0.183 sec
Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap : Carl Edwards, #19 Sunoco Rookie of the Race : Chase Elliott, #24
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: Apr. 17, 2016 - Bristol Motor Speedway