Kyle Busch wins at World Wide Technology Raceway despite adversity and delays
Madison, IL (KMIZ)
After losing the inaugural Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway to Joey Logano on the final lap a year ago Kyle Busch led the final 60 laps to his crew chief Randall Burnett a victory at his home track in front of a sold-out crowd. Burnett grew up in Fenton, Missouri, and had family in attendance for the race on Sunday.
“It’s great to be able to score a win here in St Louis for Randall’s hometown, that’s really good and so the team is really on a high,” Busch told reporters during his post-race press conference.
It was a dominating weekend for Busch. The No. 8 car won the Pole Award on Saturday with a lap of 32.802 seconds, giving the team the number one pit stall. Burnett said this was a huge advantage due to the narrow length of pit road. That rang true on Sunday Busch led five times for 121 laps.
However, the victory did not come without a little drama. Busch had to hold off Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson on five consecutive restarts including one with just two laps to go. Busch executed them all and was very challenged for the lead.
Enjoy Illinois 300 Top Ten Results
- #8 - Kyle Busch
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #99 - Daniel Suarez
- #24 - William Byron
- #34 - Michael McDowell
- #4 - Kevin Harvick
The narrow pit road also resulted in a scary incident on pit road, when Erik Jones front tire changer Thomas Hatcher has to be taken to the hospital after falling in front of Auston Dillon’s car.
Lighting in the area resulted in an hour-and-a-half delay just five laps into the race. The delay didn’t affect the majority of fans in attendance.
“I’m never going to leave,” Patrick Kushman, a fan who was waiting out the rain delay told ABC 17. “This is a great racetrack, a great crowd, and great drivers leading us so I’m not going to leave until that checkered flag flies.”
“Experience of a lifetime, this is St Louis racing style,” Jeff Farner a fan sitting in the section nine grandstands added.
Once the action resumed 1.25-mile track turned out to be a tricky one for drivers.
The fact that we shift on both ends is a technical thing that we need to stay really focused to,” Ty Dillion the driver of the NO. 77 car told ABC 17 before the race. “I think this track allows for the racers to race each other pretty hard but it kinda encompasses everything. You need to have a really good day on pit road, the drivers got to be clean and it becomes a full executed race.”
The changing weather conditions throughout the weekend did not help matters.
"When you wake up in the morning and you look at your phone and it says 64-95 you're going to have a massive swing in temperature so definitely a conversation that happened on our pit stand," Austin Cindric told ABC 17 after qualifying on Saturday. "Tried adjusting my balance and the track got ten degrees hotter, shocking I'm freer."
The race had 11 cautions-most of them due to break rotor failures. Carson Hocevar, who was making his Cup debut was the first victim followed by Noah Gragson, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace who smacked the wall at the end of the front straightway with just five laps to go.
The lighting delay and cautions resulted in the track changing as the sun went down. According to Denny Hamlin, this played a factor in the race and may have resulted in some of the break failures.
“We would have had a more competitive race and more passing had it been the normal conditions that we thought, which is 95 and sunny,” Hamlin said after finishing second. “The cooler the track gets the more rear arm throttle and passing is really hard.”
Ross Chastain, who made headlines for making contact with multiple cars in last year’s race, was back at it again on Sunday. Chastain ran over a rumble strip during a restart which caused him to run up the track. Chastain ended up making contact with Micheal McDowell and spinning his No. 34 car around.
Later in the race Austin Cindric made contact with Austin Dillion while the two were racing aggressively. Dillion thought he got right hooked into the wall intentionally. NASCAR will review the incident this week to see if there is a possible suspension incoming for Cindric.
Despite the stop-and-start nature of the race and the long lighting delay, Joey Logano thought it was a victory for WWT Raceway.
“I think they won again if you ask me. Even with all the adversity they had to fight through today,” Logano told ABC 17 on pit road. “It goes to show these people in St Louis, they love some NASCAR racing cause it’s hot as hell out, or it was all weekend and they were able to show up. All the fans, a sellout a couple of years in a row a good job with the concerts, everybody is really into it.”
