Kurt Busch Up-And-Down Day for Busch at Atlanta

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), experienced an up-and-down day in Sunday’s Oral-B USA 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Busch entered the race looking for his fourth Sprint Cup Series win at the 1.54-mile oval. It appeared for the first half of the race that he was on his way to accomplishing his goal, before a right-rear tire failure on lap 170 saw his black-and-red machine suffer heavy damage to the right side. Despite the setback, Busch and his Daniel Knost-led team’s never-quit attitude afforded Busch the opportunity to contend for a top-five finish in the late stages of the event.

Even with a handling condition that made his Haas Automation Chevrolet tight into the track’s corners and loose on exit, Busch was able to steadily advance from his 22nd starting position. Consistently running lap times faster than the race leaders, the No. 41 first cracked the top-10 on lap 85. Busch advanced to the seventh position following a caution period on lap 116, then made a daring move on the ensuing restart to pick off four competitors and advance to the third spot. Busch was able to keep that momentum going, and he overtook Matt Kenseth for the race lead on lap 136. He would hold the spot for 22 laps before dropping back to the third position.

As Knost informed Busch that he was moments away from making a scheduled green-flag pit stop, the Las Vegas native keyed his radio to inform the team that he’d lost his right-rear tire. Busch made contact with the outside retaining wall as a result, but he was able to drive the car to pit road without incurring any additional damage.

The team brought Busch to pit road several times to fix the damage, and their diligent efforts were rewarded as they were able to keep Busch on the lead lap. The 36-year-old driver continued to keep his Haas Automation team informed of handling issues and additional repairs that would be required, and he steadily progressed toward the front of the field despite the heavy damage sustained.

Busch worked his way up to seventh with just 15 laps remaining and appeared on his way to claiming that position in the final running order; however, an incident just before the initial white flag was thrown brought out the caution, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. On the first overtime attempt, a multicar incident proved unavoidable for Busch, causing heavy left-side damage to his Haas Automation Chevrolet. Knost, spotter Rick Carelli and Busch discussed their options and agreed that the No. 41 machine would be fine for two laps. They stayed on the racetrack for the second attempt at the finish, where Busch was forced to race in a four-wide battle for position for the entire two-lap shootout. When the checkered flag waved, he had fallen back to the 13th position.

TSC PR