Kyle Busch Ends Race to 200 Wins in Auto Club 400

Written by Robert Henry

Fontana, CA – Today we all would get to see history when No. 18 Kyle Busch and his Interstate Batteries Toyota take home the checkered flag and his 200^th win.  With the win, Busch has cemented his name in history as being one of the best drivers in all of NASCAR.  Today’s race was definitely a dogfight between Busch and the other drivers.  There was even a moment in the race where Busch’s dreams of obtaining his 200^th Sunday were in jeopardy.

The first stage of the race saw Austin Dillion in the No. 3 Dow Coatings Chevrolet start in poll position due to having the best qualifying time.  Then there was No. 4 Kevin Harvick in his Jimmy John’s Ford starting in second, Aric Almirola in the No. 10 Farmer John Ford and rounding out the starting four was none other than Kyle Busch. 

On lap twelve Busch made his way into the top spot and he would go on to do whatever he could to stay on top.  Bush’s teammate Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota was able to creep into the number two spot just behind Busch on the twenty-first lap.  On lap 28 most of the other drivers went in for a green flag pit stop while Busch stayed out.

But then on lap 29 Busch stopped in pit road, which put him back into the fourth place position.  It took just one lap, for Busch to force his way back into the lead position on lap 30.  Eleven laps later on lap 41 Busch was able to pull away from the pack giving him a three and a half second lead ahead of the second place driver.  With just five laps left in the first stage a caution flag is waved due to Dillion’s car starting to smoke.  There were just two laps left after the caution was waved when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No. 17 Fastenal Ford was bumped, causing him to slide out.  Due to Stenhouse Jr.’s accident, a caution flag was waved. This setup a one lap run on the restart for the end of the stage, which Busch was able to hold on for the Stage win.

At the start of stage 2 Busch led the pack with Joey Logano in the No. 22 AAA Southern California Ford trailing in second and Harvick chasing them down for the top spot.  Early on in the second stage Logano was able to overtake the top spot from Busch but it would not be long until Busch came back to reclaim the first position. 

On lap eighty-five Kyle Busch extended his lead over Logano, putting the gap between them at two and a half seconds.  Three laps later on lap eighty-eight Brad Keselowski in the No. 2  Wurth Ford passed Logano to take the second place position away.  On lap 93, green flag pit stops began to cycle through.

After the stop on pit road, the top four drivers were Busch, Keselowski, Logano and Ryan Blaney joining the party in the No. 12  PPG Ford.  At the half-way point of the race, Kyle Busch held a strong lead of five seconds over Keselowski who was back in the second place. He was never able to close the gap as Busch easily won the 2^nd stage.

Ahead of the start of the final stage of the race, teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were caught speeding on pit road and had to restart at the tail of the field. This forced Hamilton to start 16^th and Busch to go back to 19^th. At the start of the final stage it was Keselowski out front with Harvick, Chase Elliot in the No. 9 NAPA AutoParts Chevrolet and No. 42 Kyle Larson in the Credit One Bank Chevrolet aiming to take that spot for themselves. 

With seventy laps left in the race Logano was able to push Larson out of the top four putting himself in position to come out on top.  By lap 145 Kyle Busch had ben on the move and  had ben making his climb back to the top by reaching the seventh spot. Logano meanwhile had crept his way into the second spot on lap 151 but was still four and a half seconds behind Keselowski. 

No. 43 Bubba Wallace’s car got damaged and started throwing debris on the track forcing another caution on lap 165.  This caution would be the moment that saved Busch’s chances at coming back. On lap 175 Kyle Busch was able to over take Keselowski for the top spot with just twenty-five laps left in the race.  Busch would go on to maintain the lead and ending the race on top, capturing the 200^th win in his career.

Kyle Busch takes the top spot today with Joey Logano coming in second and Brad Keselowski rounding out the top three.  All the drivers today put their all into obtaining a win but it was Busch’s day to shine.  With this win it keeps Busch on the rise as one of the greatest NASCAR drivers in history.  Busch has now tied Richard Petty for the most NASCAR wins.  It wont be long until Busch is able to capture another win putting him at 201 wins.  But for now Kyle Busch is the winner of the twenty-third Auto Club 400 race here in Fontana, California.