Busch Records Solid Fourth-Place Finish at Chicagoland
Doublemint Team Races to Seventh Top-Five Result of Season
Date: Sept. 16, 2012
Event: Geico 400 (Round 27 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. (1.5-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 21st/4th (Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
Point Standing: 13th (814 points, 41 ahead of 14th)
Winner: Brad Keselowski of Penske Racing (Dodge)
Kyle Busch put in a solid day’s work Sunday afternoon at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.
Busch, the driver of the No. 18 Doublemint® Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), found himself within the top-10 for most of the 267-lap race, using a combination of smart adjustments by crew chief Dave Rogers and solid pit stops by the Doublemint team to bring home a solid fourth-place finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Geico 400.
“The day started off really good,” said Busch, who earned his 13th top-10 finish of the season. “We were following the 24 (Jeff Gordon) up to the front. We had a strong Doublemint Camry. We didn’t want to make any changes to it early just to see where the track was going to go, and then we started working on just getting a little more grip and more side bite. Everything we did kind of helped – there was one time that it didn’t help, but every other time it helped. Just didn’t quite have enough for the top-three today, but we had a fourth-place car and we got a fourth-place effort out of it.”
After starting 21st, Busch was determined to drive toward the front quickly. He climbed to 14th by lap 10 and quickly cracked the top-10 by lap 42. After that, Las Vegas native Busch never looked back, eventually working his way to sixth by lap 85 with a racecar that was just a bit free.
Busch was sixth for the final restart on lap 195. Over the final 72 laps, Busch’s car turned from slightly loose to slightly tight. But a solid final pit stop of the day on lap 228, combined with a trackbar adjustment by Rogers, vaulted Busch two more spots to his eventual fourth-place finishing position, capping a solid day for the Doublemint team.
Busch’s JGR teammates – Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry – finished seventh and 16th, respectively.
Brad Keselowski won the Geico 400 to score his eighth career Sprint Cup victory, his fourth of the season and his first at Chicagoland.
Jimmie Johnson, who led four times for a race high 172 laps, finished 3.171 seconds behind Keselowski in the runner-up spot. Kasey Kahne, Busch and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-five. Tony Stewart, Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were four caution periods for 23 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish the 267-lap race.
Hamlin is representing JGR in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup and entered the first race of the 10-race Chase seeded first among the 12 Chase drivers. Hamlin leaves Chicagoland fourth in points with 2,041 points, 15 points behind new Chase leader Keselowski.
Busch maintained 13th in points with 814 points, 41 ahead of 14th-place Newman. Logano held his 18th position with 715 points, 99 points behind Busch in 13th. Since they are not Chase participants, Busch and Logano can finish no higher than 13th.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Sylvania 300 on Sept. 23 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The race begins at 2 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with a pre-race show at 1 p.m.
