Busch Charges Toward Talladega Victory

TALLADEGA, Ala. — The NASCAR world needs to pay attention to Kyle Busch, because the one thing he was said to lack was patience. On Sunday, it was patience that propelled the 22-year-old driver to victory in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Busch, who hit the line for the final restart on lap 184 in third, pushed Juan Montoya past leader Michael Waltrip and then cut to the bottom to take the top spot, and he rode it all the way to his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the season and the seventh of his young career.
Of course, with four laps left in a race at the giant 2.66-mile superspeedway, it was far from over, and Busch had to hold off charges from Waltrip, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson to earn the victory. He did, with help from first Gordon and then Montoya.
“Our plan was just to block as best we could,” Busch said. “Those guys behind me were pretty awesome in helping push us and we just kept blocking them like we needed to.
“If Juan would have pulled out, then Denny [Hamlin] probably would have gone with us to give Joe Gibbs Racing a one-two finish.”
The final lap was shaping up to be a barnburner in typical Talladega fashion, as Michael McDowell spun in the tri-oval when Busch was flashing under the white flag. NASCAR did not wave a caution flag, but it didn’t matter anyway, because a six-car pileup, triggered by Jimmie Johnson pushing Michael Waltrip, ended the race. The yellow did wave then, giving Busch the victory.

SPRAY DAY: Kyle Busch celebrates his victory in Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. (HHP/Harold Hinson Photo)

That Busch was in position to win the race at all was amazing.
He was effectively blocked out of his pit stall on lap 62 during green-flag stops and was forced to come around again. He lost a lap doing that and had to battle 55 laps until the next caution flag to get back on the lead serial.
“Fortunately, we were in the right position at the right time and got the lucky dog,” Busch said. “We were able to come back to the field. With about 10 laps to go, things got crazy.”
At that point, Busch got into Jamie McMurray after getting a huge push from behind, and the two nearly wrecked in the middle of the lead pack. Somehow, both drivers were able to save their cars and continue.
“I thought I was going out of the park,” Busch said. “I thought I was getting hooked and going straight up the fence, but luckily we got off each other and kept it straight.”
Montoya pushed Busch past all comers and might have had something for the eventual winner had the race continued past turn two.
“I was thinking of trying to make a move off turn two,” Montoya said. “It’s hard to know what you’re going to do. I really helped Kyle, managed to get on his bumper and actually push him all the way around the track. I made up a bunch of ground and it was good. To have a good result like this, it was huge.”
The finish catapulted Montoya into the top 12 in points — one point up on Kasey Kahne.
Hamlin was third, followed by David Ragan and Brian Vickers. Travis Kvapil was sixth, and Casey Mears, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the top 10.
Toyotas led 119 of the 188 laps, with Tony Stewart leading a race-high 61 before crashing out on lap 173.
Stewart, who led 81 laps on Saturday in his NASCAR Nationwide Series victory, picked up where he left off, leading the first 20 laps from the outside of the front row. He was leading on lap 144 when the right front tire on his Home Depot machine went down, sending him scraping along the turn-one wall.
Despite the contact, the car was not heavily damaged and Stewart came to pit road for repairs. After replacing four tires, Stewart left pit road only to return the following lap with a flat left rear.
He rejoined the race as the last car on the lead lap in 31st and lost the draft. When Paul Menard spun on lap 160, Stewart was able to catch the pack again. He was 28th when the green waved again on lap 164, then climbed four spots in one lap to 24th.
He was all the way up to 13th on lap 173 when he was squeezed in a four-wide box entering turn one. That started a six-car pileup that finished Stewart’s day then and there, badly damaging the car.
“I went to the second lane there and thought we were all right, but the closer we got to turn one, the smaller that hole got,” Stewart said. “I was as close to Bobby [Labonte] as I could get, and the hole closed up.
“That’s what happens late in these races. If it was my fault, I’m sorry, but after looking at the video, I don’t think I did anything wrong. We were really in good shape with this Home Depot car until the right front went down and put us in the back.”
Earnhardt was involved in that crash and just missed the final yellow. He led 12 times for 46 laps and wound up 10th.
Jeff Burton held onto the point lead with a 12th-place finish, but Busch jumped to second, just 22 points back.