With Homestead and championship hopes looming, Kyle Busch cruised past two red flags and a bevy of cautions to pick up a huge win in Phoenix.
In March, the desert was rather cruel to Kyle Busch. A second-place finish and some angst had taken over the championship driver. Second place is a great day for most, but only wins matter to Busch. On Sunday, there was redemption for Busch as he raced to victory in Phoenix again at the Can-Am 500.
The final stage of Sunday’s race told a different story than it’s two predecessors. With a new track configuration after a massive overhaul at ISM Raceway, chaos was expected and also delivered.
Two red flags, numerous cautions and pit strategies defined the penultimate race on the schedule. Amidst it all, Busch had every bit of that in his rear view mirror as he simply raced his race and took home the checkered flag.
After the race, Busch was asked whether or not he had considered letting Aric Almirola take the lead to keep Harvick out of the championship round in Miami.
“It crossed my mind of having him alongside for a restart.” Busch said. “You always got to think about who you’re restarting against and what their objectives are and what their agenda is.”
Busch admitted that he was just focused on getting the win and out and way from everyone behind him.
“Overall, I just knew that if I got a restart and got clear I could go away and not have to race any of those guys and have to worry about any of that.”
Brad Keselowski remained the final contender to Busch over the final 10 laps. However, he wasn’t able to gain the speed to track down the No. 18 car. With a new start/finish line providing plenty of obstacles as expected, Keselowski wasn’t sure really what to expect at Phoenix.
“I didn’t expect anything, so the answer would be no.” Keselowski said. “But I do think it had a pretty good effect on the race when it came to entering turn 1. Turn 1 on the old track which is now turn 3, you just couldn’t pass, and this corner down here you can pass on the restart and that changes the game a lot.”
In a jovial mood afterward, Busch had suggestions for improving Victory Lane in Phoenix.
“The setup was nice. Overall, where the guys or all of us kind of stand, you know where the photographers are we need multiple levels. So we can put guys down front or sponsored guests so there’s multiple levels so people can be seen. That’s my suggestion. Fix it.”
While laughing, Busch continued, “I don’t know why people don’t ask me what we need in Victory Lane. I go to enough of them. Like, just ask me what we need.”