Busch Fights Ill-Handling Car to 13th-Place Finish at Michigan
Interstate Batteries Team Sits Just 11 Points Out of Chase Wild-Card Berth
Date: Aug. 19, 2012
Event: Pure Michigan 400 (Round 23 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn (2-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 23rd/13th (Running, completed 201 of 201 laps in a green-white-checkered finish)
Point Standing: 14th (669 points, 194 out of first, 58 out of 10th)
Winner: Greg Biffle of Roush Fenway Racing (Ford)
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Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), battled an ill-handling racecar to a 13th-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
“We were just off all day with our Interstate Batteries Camry,” said Busch, who won the 2011 Pure Michigan 400. “We were very loose on restarts and then, when it would get strung out, our car started to get really tight from the center off. We salvaged the best finish we could, but it just wasn’t our day from the start.”
Busch, who started 23rd, wasn’t able to make a lot of progress early on in the 400-mile race. He moved up to 16th by lap 35, but fought a tighthandling condition that also lacked rear grip. Crew chief Dave Rogers and the Interstate Batteries team kept throwing everything they had at the No. 18 car, trying track-bar and air-pressure adjustments, and removing a spring rubber in an attempt to help the ill-handling car.
While Rogers was able to improve the car’s handling slightly, Busch still found himself running 17th near the halfway point of the 200-lap scheduled distance. But with strong green-flag stops from the Interstate Batteries team during his final two trips down pit road on lap 126 and lap 166, Busch was able to gain spots each time and sat 13th on the final green-white-checkered restart on lap 199. But, as seemingly was the case all afternoon, Busch was unable to gain positions, but he also didn’t lose any during the race-ending two-lap shootout. He had to settle for a disappointing but respectable 13th-place finish.
“It was a long day for the Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry race team.” Rogers said. “Everyone worked really hard and Kyle did a great job. I just didn’t put the right shocks and springs and bars in it – didn’t have enough speed in it. Kyle did a great job of staying focused and looking at the big picture. Unfortunately, we didn’t bring a fast enough racecar.”
Busch’s JGR teammates – Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry, and Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry – finished 11th and 31st, respectively.
Greg Biffle won the Pure Michigan 400 to score his 18th career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his third at Michigan.
Brad Keselowski finished .416 of a second behind Biffle in the runner-up spot, while Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top-five. Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Martin Truex Jr., comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were eight caution periods for 35 laps, with 15 drivers failing to finish the 201-lap race, which was extended one lap beyond it scheduled distance by the green-white-checkered finish.
With round 23 of 36 complete, Hamlin leads the JGR trio in the championship point standings. He maintained 10th in the standings with 727 points, 96 behind new series leader Biffle and 33 points ahead of 11th-place Kahne. Busch held his14th-place standing with 669 points, 194 out of first and 58 behind 10th-place Hamlin. Logano remained 18th with 600 points, 223 away from the top spot and 127 behind 10th.
Only the top-10 in points are locked into the 12-driver, 10-race Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11th and 20th in points who have the most wins. In the event of multiple drivers having the same number of wins, a driver’s point standing serves as the tiebreaker.
Kahne holds the 11th-place wild-card spot thanks to his two victories, the most of any driver outside the top-10. Newman held onto the 12thplace wild-card spot by virtue of his April 1 victory at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, combined with his 13th position in the point standings, which is higher than his fellow single-race winners in the top-20 in points – Busch, Jeff Gordon, Ambrose and Logano. However, Busch sits just 11 points behind Newman for the second wild card spot.
Either Busch or Logano can earn a wild-card spot by grabbing another victory in the next three races or by climbing into the top-10 in points.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Irwin Tools Night Race on Saturday, Aug. 25 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 7 p.m.
