Lady Luck Not on Busch’s Side at Vegas
Mid-Race Scrape with Wall, Handing Issues Hamper M&M’s Driver
Date: March 11, 2012
Event: Kobalt Tools 400 (Round 3 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 2nd/23rd (Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
Winner: Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing (Chevrolet)
A return to his hometown of Las Vegas did not generate the luck that Kyle Busch wanted during Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 400.
Busch, the driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Ms. Brown Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), suffered a mid-race scrape with the wall, coupled with handling and track position woes, that proved too much to overcome and resulted in a disappointing 23rd-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“We started in the back, and we were able to move up through the field at the start with our M&M’s Ms. Brown Camry,” said Busch, who won a Sprint Cup race in 2009 at Las Vegas. “We ended up taking four tires on our second stop when everyone else took two and lost our track position. Then we got into the oil from the 93 car blowing up, and I got into the fence. Between that and not being able to keep up with the way the track changed, we just couldn’t end up recovering from losing the track position. It was just a long and frustrating day for us.”
While Busch qualified a solid second, he was forced to drop to the rear of the field per the NASCAR rulebook as a result of an accident in Saturday’s practice session that forced the M&M’s team to use its backup car.
Despite starting in the rear, Busch went to work and charged toward the front of the field, reaching 20th by lap 20, 10th by lap 47, and as high as seventh by lap 51. But Busch’s race began to go the wrong way on lap 74, when he pitted for four tires while most of the rest of the field elected to take only two tires. Busch lost track position and restarted in 19th on lap 75.
That proved to be a tough hole to escape. Busch became mired in traffic, making it very tough to pass at the aerodynamically sensitive 1.5-mile oval. Compounding his track position woes, the No. 93 car of Travis Kvapil had an engine issue and leaked fluid on the track on lap 126. As Busch exited turn 2, he ran through the fluid, which caused him to skirt up the track and scrape the outside SAFER Barrier exiting the corner.
The M&M’s team went to work to fix the right-side damage on the ensuing pit stop and sent Busch back out in the 21st position. Busch was able to gain a few spots but struggled for the remainder of the race with the handling of his M&M’s Toyota. No matter what crew chief Dave Rogers threw at the car, the handling never quite suited Busch.
Even after taking four tires on lap 256 of the 267-lap race, Busch continued to struggle with an extremely loose handling condition at the tail end of the lead lap, causing him to spin as he exited turn four on lap 260. Fortunately Busch kept his M&M’s Toyota off the wall. The team put four tires on the car on an ensuing pit stop, which helped Busch finish the race despite falling one lap down.
Tony Stewart won the Kobalt Tools 400 to score his 45th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Las Vegas.
Jimmie Johnson finished .461 of a second behind Stewart in the runner-up spot, while Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five. Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray, Trevor Bayne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were eight caution periods for 33 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish the 267-lap race.
With round three of 36 complete, Hamlin leads the JGR contingent in the championship point standings. He is third with 113 points, 12 behind new leader Greg Biffle. Logano stands ninth, 27 points out of first. Busch now sits 12th, 38 points behind Biffle.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Food City 500 on Sunday, March 18 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EST, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m.
