Yahoo Autos Kyle Busch Survives Late Chaos, Wins Third of 2016
It's a very good time to be Kyle Busch.
The reigning Sprint Cup Series champion is now the unquestioned top driver of four very good drivers at Joe Gibbs Racing, and as 2016 has proven to be an unbelievable season for JGR already, it seems one of the best drivers in the series has finally overcome his previous temper and consistency issues to become easily the best driver in the best car in the series. The reign of the younger Busch brother, predicted three or four times a year by pundits since he began his run with JGR in 2008, is finally here, and nobody on the grid has really done much to stop it.
Well, not after Martin Truex, Jr.'s race was derailed by a loose wheel. The JGR-affiliated driver had led 172 of the race's 267 laps from his first pole in nearly five years, continuing his Cole Pearn-helmed Furniture Row program's strength at intermediates, but an issue mid-race would end his hopes of victory and open the door for Busch.
Once in the lead, the Toyota ace fought off challenges from Kevin Harvick, teammate Matt Kenseth and brother Kurt Busch, but was spared of any real competition from also-quick Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano after they self-spun at the same time going three-wide with Kyle Larson for third. He was also spared an interesting challenge from Tony Stewart, in his second full race back from injury, after the owner-driver's nearly-successful plan to stay out when the rest of the field short pitted was derailed, and with it his race, by a caution just one lap after his stop.
The strong race was the first in a long while for eventual 12th place finisher Stewart, who struggled throughout 2015 and missed the first third of 2016 after suffering a back injury over the offseason. After being scored in sixth last weekend thanks to an exceptional run amid chaos by relief driver Ty Dillon, he finds himself in a fairly comfortable position to move into the top thirty in points by the start of the Chase as Kyle Busch did last season, and if he can do that and win a race, he can finish his final season as a Chase contender.
In the rookie-of-the-year battle, a quietly impressive top ten by Chase Elliott is just another expectation-meeting run for the first-year driver that has raised his own expectations week after week. He wouldn't be the top-finishing rookie, however, as Ryan Blaney would charge late to a fifth-place finish, his second career top five and first at an intermediate track. His rookie-leading run comes just one day after his father, longtime Sprint Cup Series driver Dave Blaney, was briefly admitted to the hospital after a sprint car wreck at Eldora. Both are penciled into the Chase field as-they-run, though Blaney's position in 16th by just 2 points is at great risk of disappearing if a race winner comes from deeper in the standings. If either make the field-of-sixteen, they'll be the first rookie in the Chase since 2006, when Denny Hamlin accomplished the feat for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Next weekend's race in Dover is the final Sprint Cup Series race before the category's brief All Star break, and the last race at a track of a mile or shorter until mid-June.
