Not once. Or twice. Three, four or five times.
NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch survived a series of restarts over the final 40 laps Sunday, securing the checkered flag in overtime of the Enjoy Illinois 300.
Busch earned his third victory of the season from the pole position at the soldout World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. In seven OT races this season, Busch became just the second pilot to win after leading the field at the end of regulation.
“Just win, baby,” Busch told Fox Sports with his arms raised after climbing out of his No. 8 Toyota.
Take a bow, Kyle Busch. https://t.co/tbwyVC61lr pic.twitter.com/WkkX1NTdLB
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 5, 2023
Kyle Busch: ‘This One’s Pretty Cool’
For Busch, career win No. 63 was a challenge. With a rash of drivers crashing into the Gateway wall after brake failures, Busch preferred to stay on the outside, beating Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson over the final two group starts. Hamlin placed second and Larson, after fighting back from a poor start, finished fourth after a late pass by Joey Logano.
“Pretty awesome,” Busch said. “This one’s pretty cool.”
Larson’s team utilized a Stage 3 two-tire change to complete his charge from the back of the field. After starting 22nd, Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet dropped back to 32nd by Lap 28.
Larson’s garage is on a three-race streak for executing in-race changes to put the Hendrick Motorsports machine in contention.
“Credit to the team,” Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels told Fox Sports during a late red flag. “We’ll keep battlin’.”
Larson’s team battled to the front and appeared to be in a position to win when Noah Gragson’s brake rotor gave out on Lap 198.
But Busch proved to be adept on the late restarts at the 1.25-mile oval.
Ryan Blaney wins the second stage at WWTR Gateway as Blaney and Kyle Busch have combined to lead all the laps through the second stage. pic.twitter.com/263Dil6R5k
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 4, 2023
Ryan Blaney Takes Cup Points Lead
After five laps, Sunday’s race was delayed 1 hour 45 minutes after lightning struck within eight miles of the facility.
Aided by a sixth-place finish and Stage 2 win, Ryan Blaney moved into the Cup points standings lead, replacing Ross Chastain. Blaney, who earned a win at Charlotte last Monday, has earned six top-10 finishes over his past seven outings.
“Being the points leader is nice,” Blaney told NASCAR.com. “We’ve come from a long way back. Hopefully, we can keep it up through the summer months, having good runs and trying to hunt for a couple more wins too.”
Blaney leads second-place William Byron by 13 points. Chastain, who has yet to win this season, fell to fifth, 29 points behind.
Brad Keselowski may elect to forget his milestone race Sunday.
The co-owner and driver of RFK Racing’s No. 6 Ford competed in his 500th career race at Gateway. The 2012 Cup Series champion became the 46th driver in circuit history to reach 500 starts. Keselowski joined Kevin Harvick (806), Kyle Busch (658), Martin Truex Jr. (630) and Joey Logano (523) among active pilots with at least 500 starts.
Never in contention at Gateway, Keselowski placed 28th.
Also in this update that ADillon did not hit Hatcher, who got tangled up with the tire carrier on the stop. https://t.co/O1b2KN26C9
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 5, 2023
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