NASCAR, Hollywood Casino 500: Takeaways from Kansas
By Ted Fleming
Two drivers make it to the third round of the Chase, while two others will need a win at Talladega or see their championship hopes disappear.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup season is winding down leaving just four races before the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway where a champion will be crowned. Kyle Busch is the reigning titleholder and is perfectly positioned to repeat having made the Round of 12. Sitting third in points, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is well positioned to move on to the Elite Eight.
Talladega Superspeedway is what stands in the way of all Chase hopefuls because it is one of the most unpredictable tracks on the entire circuit. Dreams are made or broken at NASCAR’s longest oval with speeds in excess of 200 mph and it is perfectly placed on the Chase for the Sprint Cup schedule as only the best will advance into the next round – if they can survive the 2.66-mile-long high bank track for 500 miles.
“You never can have any comfort and you do what you need to do in order to transfer through,” Busch said. “It’s all about the racing gods in that story in Talladega. Our M&M’s Camry was really strong today, we had a very good short run car, not a good long run car. I just wish we had more.”
Busch has four wins on the season and his fourth place finish at Kansas was important to keeping him alive. While he was not happy with the result, he tends to want more even after visiting the winner’s circle. This is just how competitive he is. The Hollywood Casino 400 is just an example of that and what makes him dangerous at Talladega and beyond.
“That’s a crazy race. Anything can happen there, but this team doesn’t quit. As tough and painful as this loss is we ran well today. That’s what it’s going to take to win at Homestead. We feel like if we get to that final round we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with. We’ll move on but man I wanted to win this today.”