Busch did 'all the stupid stuff' to defend his COTA lead, but it just wasn't enough
Today at 08:48 PM
Kyle Busch felt he did all of the "stupid stuff" a race leader needs to do when battling for a race win, but Christopher Bell got the best of the Richard Childress Racing driver at Circuit of The Americas.
Busch ultimately finished fifth after losing the lead to Bell with five laps to go. The two drivers went head-to-head for multiple laps after the race restarted for the final time with 13 to go, and the two-time series champion praised Bell for an "incredibly gracious and very clean" battle despite Busch trying to keep him at bay.
"I was cutting him off and blocking and doing all the stupid stuff that you need to do to try to protect the lead," Busch said. "But he was much faster than me and able to do a good job of biding his time and waiting for me to make a couple of mistakes in a row. Once I made two mistakes in a row, then it was over."
Busch led the most laps Sunday as he was out front for 42 of 95 laps. In the final stage, he made his final pit stop with 27 laps to go and cycled back to the top spot with 22 laps remaining. He was well in command over William Byron and Christopher Bell (who was 4s behind) when the final caution flew with 17 to go.
The caution eliminated Busch's lead. He restarted as the leader on the front row with Bell in the second row behind him. Bell quickly went to second in Turn 1 on the restart, setting up the battle for the win as he chased down Busch.
It ended cleanly after a hard-fought battle, which was on the mind of both divers. Bell mentioned in his winner's interview that he wanted to pass Busch cleanly.
COTA’s 2022 event saw Bell spin Busch. The same thing happened a year ago, and Busch confronted Bell on pit road afterward.
"I was making it incredibly difficult on him, and certainly there was some times where he probably could have done it again, but he did a better job of that," Busch said. "Also, he had a better race car. Well, at that point, he had better tires. I don't know if he had a better race car.
"He was a tick faster than I was. The defensive line that I had to run was just not good for me and our race. That really hurt us at the end."
Busch faded after losing the lead. In the battle with Bell, which did have some contact between the two, Busch said the right rear of his Chevrolet bent and the car was never the same. On the same lap that Bell passed him for the race lead, Busch also lost positions to Byron and Tyler Reddick. Chase Elliott then took another position from Busch on the final lap.
"I hate it for all the guys and everybody with Rowdy Nation and RCR," Busch said. "We've got the grit. We're from Welcome (North Carolina), and we're going to outwork anybody there is to work. The guys did a phenomenal job with the race car that we brought to the racetrack — unloading not the way I wanted it and being able to make as many adjustments as we did there in practice and qualifying, and then there in the race having a really good race car.
"I wish we had a little bit more there at the end. I feel like maybe the two-lap fresher tires the No. 20 had was the difference. All things considered, I'd love to have equal tires to the No. 20 and get back after it and see what we could do that way. But I also hated to see that yellow that came out. I felt like we had a little bit of a gap there, enough of a gap that I was protecting my tires. I could run all the lines I wanted to run; I didn't have to run defensive lines and use up my stuff even more when the No. 20 was right on me. I'll give Christopher credit, though, where credit is due. He ran me really hard and I was a complete butthead. He did a great job just working me over and doing it the right way and being able to get by."
Busch is working on breaking a winless drought dating back to June 4, 2023, in St. Louis.
