Carl Edwards, Toyota race into NASCAR posteason with Coca-Cola 600 win

Fuel strategy key as Edwards wins his first race for Joe Gibbs Racing

Will the mystery winner of Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 enter and sign in please?

Hint: It’s the guy who does back flips every time he takes the checkered flag.

But for the first 370 of 400 laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway, no one would have picked Carl Edwards or his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as the likely winner of the season’s 12th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin had spent the lion’s share of time at the head of the field, but none of that mattered when Edwards got 62 laps out of his last tank of fuel and took the checkered flag 4.785 seconds ahead of Greg Biffle, who also was on a fuel-saving strategy.

In fact, the top-four finishers all stretched their gas mileage after pit stops under caution on lap 337. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran third, followed by pole sitter Matt Kenseth and Truex, who led a race-high 131 laps.

Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Hamlin (53 laps led), Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch (118 laps led) completed the top 10. Kyle Busch came home 11th in his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points race of the season, after missing the first 11 races of the season because of injuries sustained Feb. 21 at Daytona.

Carl Edwards won by nearly five seconds ahead of Greg Biffle. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

The victory was Edwards first of the season, his first for Joe Gibbs Racing, his first at Charlotte and the 24th of his career.

But after the very early stages of the race, Edwards wasn’t a factor until fuel strategy came into play in the closing laps.

Soon after Jimmie Johnson spun off turn four on lap 90 to cause the second caution of the afternoon, the race evolved into a two-car contest between the Chevrolets of Kurt Busch and Truex.

Within two laps of a restart on lap 95, Busch drove from ninth to the lead, passing Joey Logano for the top spot on lap 97. From that point, Busch and Truex swapped stints at the head of the field, and by the time Johnson spun off turn four and smacked the inside wall on lap 273 to bring out the caution flag for the fifth time, Busch had racked up 118 laps led and Truex 59.

But another quick yellow flag on lap 282 for Ryan Blaney’s blown engine created the opportunity for divergent strategies and scrambled the running order. Truex was one of nine drivers who stayed out under the caution, but both Harvick and Kurt Busch came to pit road for fresh rubber and restarted 10th and 11th, respectively, on lap 292.

Gradually, methodically, Harvick and Kurt Busch drove back toward the front, but the contrarian strategies introduced another major player into the mix. Denny Hamlin surged to the front of the field and led 53 laps before pitting with a loose wheel on lap 363 and giving up the lead.

That put Truex back in front, with Harvick chasing, and both drivers needing one more pit stop to get to the end of the race.

Edwards, Biffle, Earnhardt and Kenseth, on the other hand, stopped with 62 laps left, and the decision to come to pit road and gamble on fuel proved decisive -- and stole a victory from Truex’s dominant car.

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Austin Dillon cruises to NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Dillon's second win of the season is his fourth career win in the Xfinity Series

For the second straight Saturday, Denny Hamlin had the chance to hold off a race’s strongest car for the victory.

Unlike last Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, however, there were too many laps left after the final restart in Saturday’s Hisense 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and pole sitter Austin Dillon powered past Hamlin on lap 186 of 200 to finish the race where he belonged -- at the front of the field.

By the time he crossed the finish line, Dillon was 2.692 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who had taken the lead during a restart on lap 167 that saw Dillon fall back to fourth from the inside lane by the time the leaders exited turn two.

One by one, Dillon picked off Regan Smith, Kasey Kahne and Hamlin on the way to his second Xfinity Series victory of the season, his first at Charlotte and the fourth of his career.

Kahne ran third behind Dillon and Hamlin, followed by Smith and rookies Darrell Wallace Jr. and Daniel Suarez. Ty Dillon came home seventh and trimmed the series lead of 11th-place finisher Chris Buescher to four points.

Dillon led 163 laps and held an advantage of more than six seconds during a 54-lap green-flag run that preceded the second caution of the race on lap 110.

Austin Dillon breezes across the finish line in Charlotte with a lead of nearly three seconds. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

How good was Dillon’s No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet?

“I didn’t want to get out of this thing,” Dillon said in victory lane. “This thing drove so good. It was a heck of a race there with Denny at the end and Kasey (Kahne). I had to go right there in lapped traffic (to make the winning pass).

“I knew if I didn’t hurry up and get in front of him right there, the tires might equalize (in terms of grip).”

But when Dillon picked the inside lane for what proved to be the final restart -- after a caution for Kyle Fowler’s wreck in turn one -- Hamlin seized what he considered a fortuitous opportunity and surged into the lead.

“I thought when the 33 gave us the outside, that was a big advantage for us if we could stay with him through turns one and two,” said Hamlin, who last Saturday held off Kevin Harvick in the final 10-lap shootout to win the all-star race. “We (did), and it allowed us to get position on him and even get him shuffled a few spots.

“That was all good, but his car was just so fast he just overcame that track position.”

Hamlin lost the lead when the lapped car of Peyton Sellers stayed low and forced Hamlin’s No. 54 Toyota to pass on the outside.

“I needed to stay on the bottom,” Hamlin said. “My car was best on the bottom. His car was pinned to the bottom as well. So I needed all of the lapped cars to move up high, and all of them did, except for the 97 (Sellers). He gave us the high line. That just killed us and killed our chances from that point, once the 33 got to our inside.”

Dillon chose the inside line because his car had worked well on the bottom for the entire race to that point.

“My spotter (Andy Houston) made the fact that we should have probably taken the top, and I had been on the bottom all day, so I chose the bottom again,” Dillon said. “I just didn’t want to let these guys down (his crew). The Rheem car was so fast...

“I thought about it, and I probably should have used the top, just because I would have had the run down the backstretch. It seems that, as the race goes on, that the outside can stop spinning the tires, and the rubber lays down...

“Andy made the point, and it all worked out, but I’ll definitely learn from that, for sure.”

Smith, Wallace, Suarez and Ty Dillon qualified for next week’s Xfinity Dash4Cash competition at Dover as the top-four finishers among series regulars. Those drivers will compete for $100,000 in next Saturday’s race at Dover, with the top finisher among them claiming the prize.

 

NASCAR XFINITY Series Race - Hisense 300

Charlotte Motor Speedway

Concord, North Carolina

Saturday's Results

               1. (1) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200, $70854.

               2. (4) Denny Hamlin(i), Toyota, 200, $45242.

               3. (8) Kasey Kahne(i), Chevrolet, 200, $35150.

               4. (15) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 200, $34424.

               5. (2) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Ford, 200, $35548.

               6. (19) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 200, $29090.

               7. (9) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, $27577.

               8. (16) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200, $27640.

               9. (11) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 200, $25831.

               10. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 200, $25997.

               11. (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, 200, $24514.

               12. (10) Ryan Reed, Ford, 200, $23983.

               13. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 200, $23375.

               14. (13) Kevin Harvick(i), Chevrolet, 200, $16895.

               15. (7) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, 200, $23170.

               16. (18) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 200, $22287.

               17. (21) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 200, $22060.

               18. (17) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 199, $21832.

               19. (6) Aric Almirola(i), Ford, 199, $15806.

               20. (3) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 197, $22255.

               21. (25) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 196, $21554.

               22. (32) David Starr, Toyota, 196, $21497.

               23. (30) Blake Koch, Toyota, 196, $21448.

               24. (22) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 195, $21381.

               25. (28) Chad Boat(i), Chevrolet, 194, $15496.

               26. (35) Jimmy Weller, Chevrolet, 193, $21311.

               27. (34) Kyle Fowler(i), Toyota, 192, $15275.

               28. (38) Peyton Sellers #, Chevrolet, 192, $21240.

               29. (23) John Wes Townley(i), Chevrolet, 191, $21194.

               30. (36) Eric McClure, Toyota, 189, $21449.

               31. (20) Ross Chastain #, Chevrolet, Engine, 187, $21113.

               32. (39) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 186, $21067.

               33. (5) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 183, $15097.

               34. (26) Cale Conley #, Toyota, 146, $20991.

               35. (27) Harrison Rhodes #, Chevrolet, Transmission, 141, $20957.

               36. (37) Carl Long, Dodge, Engine, 129, $19499.

               37. (33) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 58, $18499.

               38. (31) Jamie Dick, Chevrolet, Accident, 45, $17499.

               39. (29) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, Electrical, 40, $10499.

               40. (40) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 2, $9499.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  139.824 mph.

Time of Race:  02 Hrs, 08 Mins, 44 Secs. Margin of Victory:  2.692 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  3 for 22 laps.

Lead Changes:  9 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   A. Dillon(i) 1-98; D. Wallace Jr. # 99; K. Kahne(i) 100; D. Suarez # 101; L. Cassill 102-105; A. Dillon(i) 106-111; K. Harvick(i) 112-122; A. Dillon(i) 123-166; D. Hamlin(i) 167-185; A. Dillon(i) 186-200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  A. Dillon(i) 4 times for 163 laps; D. Hamlin(i) 1 time for 19 laps; K. Harvick(i) 1 time for 11 laps; L. Cassill 1 time for 4 laps; D. Suarez # 1 time for 1 lap; K. Kahne(i) 1 time for 1 lap; D. Wallace Jr. # 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 10 in Points: C. Buescher - 401; T. Dillon - 397; C. Elliott - 373; D. Wallace Jr. # - 371; R. Smith - 360; E. Sadler - 352; B. Scott - 350; R. Reed - 320; D. Suarez # - 320; B. Gaughan - 309.

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Ray Evernham, Mark Martin hope for NASCAR Hall of Fame call on Wednesday

Benny Parsons, Robert Yates, Curtis Turner among favorites in this year's election

The seventh class selected for NASCAR’s Hall of Fame will be unveiled on Wednesday evening at the facility in uptown Charlotte, N.C. The five-person Class of 2016 will come from a slate of 20 nominees, five of them on the ballot for the first time. If recent form holds, three living men and two deceased will be voted into the Hall.

The five new nominees are retired championship-winning crew chief Ray Evernham, retired drivers Hershel McGriff and Mark Martin, the late championship-winning crew chief Harry Hyde and the late championship-winning driver Alan Kulwicki. Many NASCAR watchers expect Evernham to join holdovers Jerry Cook, Robert Yates, and the late Benny Parsons (a series champion and Daytona 500 winner) and Curtis Turner. Of that group, Parsons and Turner have been on the ballot since the first class was selected in 2009.   

There will be support for ailing track owner Bruton Smith, championship-winning drivers the late Bobby Isaac and Red Byron, plus team owners Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress and owner/mechanic Raymond Fox. Short track star the late Larry Phillips, retired drivers Buddy Baker and Terry Labonte (the latter a two-time champion) and six-time modified champion Mike Stefanik also will have supporters among the 55 voters, but not enough.          

Evernham went from racing modifieds in New Jersey to preparing IROC cars to leading newcomer Jeff Gordon’s famous “Rainbow Warriors” at Hendrick Motorsports. Together, between late 1992 and late 1999, they won 30 poles and 42 races, and three of Gordon’s four Sprint Cup titles were orchestrated by Evernham. He eventually became a successful team owner and brought Dodge back into NASCAR in 2001. Evernham later became a motorsports-related TV personality and remains a frequent advisor at Hendrick Motorsports. He would be an invaluable asset as the Hall labors to expand its commercial appeal.

Hyde was the gruff, no-nonsense mechanical whiz deftly portrayed by Robert Duvall (as Harry Hogge) in the forgettable 1990 movie “Days of Thunder.” A World War II veteran, Hyde’s cars won 88 poles and 56 races, and the 1970 Cup with the late Bobby Isaac. Among his other drivers: Bobby Hillin, Geoffrey Bodine and Ken Schrader, plus the late Benny Parsons and Tim Richmond, most of the time at Hendrick Motorsports. He died in 1996, a much-beloved figure by traditionalists who embraced innovative, irascible crew chiefs over pretty-boy, smarty-pants engineers.

Alan Kulwicki won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in 1992. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Kulwicki, a college-trained engineer from Wisconsin with a unique way of doing things, ran only six full NASCAR seasons between 1985 and his aviation-related death in 1993, four months after winning the 1992 title. He won 24 poles and five races en route to the championship by 10 points with his self-owned Ford team. Perhaps he’s best known to modern-era fans as the originator of the “Polish victory lap” after his 1986 breakthrough victory at Phoenix. He and three others died when their plane crashed near Bristol Motor Speedway on April Fool’s Day of 1993. He’ll certainly make the Hall in time, but likely not this time.

Martin is considered the best stock car driver to have never won a championship. He won 56 poles and 40 races in Cup, 30 poles and 49 races in the Xfinity Series and even found time for three poles and seven victories in the Camping World Truck Series. Most of his success in his 1,143 combined NASCAR starts came at Roush Fenway Racing, where he spent 19 seasons before leaving in 2006. He finished 17 times among the top 10 in Cup points between his NASCAR debut in 1981 and his farewell in 2013, including five runner-up finishes. Like Kulwicki, he’s an eventual lock for the Hall… but maybe not on the first ballot.

McGriff is recognized more for his longevity than for his on-track accomplishments. His first NASCAR start came at age 22, in the inaugural 1950 Southern 500 at Darlington; his last came at age 66, in the 1994 race at Sonoma. He won only five poles and four races in 85 Cup starts, but backed that with 43 poles and 38 victories between 1970 and 2012 in the old Winston West/K&N West Series. He was a top-10 points finisher 14 times in that series, including the 1986 title and three second-place finishes. With a Dodge that broke after only a few laps, he was part of NASCAR’s two-team effort -- along with the late Junie Donlavey and his No. 90 Ford -- at the 24 Hours of LeMans in June of 1976. 

Engine guru Robert Yates won the 1999 Sprint Cup with driver Dale Jarret. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

The 15 holdovers are drivers Baker, Byron, Cook, Isaac, Labonte, Parsons, Phillips, Stefanik and Turner; team owners Childress, Fox, Hendrick, Parks and Yates; and racing executive Smith. 

Baker, son of Hall of Famer Buck Baker, was at his best on long, high-speed, high-banked superspeedways. He won 38 poles and 19 races, including four each at Daytona Beach and Talladega, and two at Charlotte;

Byron was the first Cup champion, but didn’t spend much more time in the series. He ran all eight races in 1949 and then only seven more over the next two seasons. He won two poles and two races, all in 1949, and died in 1960 with no NASCAR starts after 1951.  

Childress parlayed a mediocre driving career (no wins or poles in 285 starts) into a spectacular career as a team owner. He won six Cups with the late Dale Earnhardt, four Xfinity titles with Kevin Harvick (two) and Clint Bowyer and Austin Dillon (one each), and Camping World titles with Mike Skinner and Dillon.  

Cook won six NASCAR Modified titles (five straight between 1974 and 1977) before retiring in 1982 to become a series official. He made more than 1,400 starts, won 26 poles and 342 races, good enough to get him into three other racing halls of fame.

Fox was a legendary engine-builder and owner of cars driven to victory by Buck and Buddy Baker, Junior Johnson and Earl Balmer, and to some success by Cale Yarborough, LeeRoy Yarbrough and Fred Lorenzen. He died in 2014 after having won 16 poles and 14 races between 1962 and 1974.

Rick Hendrick has won 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup championships as a team owner. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Hendrick has emerged as NASCAR’s most successful owner, witness his 11 Cups with Jimmie Johnson (six), Jeff Gordon (four) and Terry Labonte (one), his Xfinity Series title with Brian Vickers, and his three Camping World titles with Jack Sprague. All told, GM-based Hendrick Motorsports teams have won 203 poles and 235 races in Cup, 36 poles and 23 races in Xfinity and 22 poles and 26 races in the Camping World Truck Series. That's quite a comeback from early in 1984, when Hendrick feared he might have to shut down his fledgling Cup team because of financial issues. Everything changed when Bodine and Hyde won the spring race at Martinsville, Va., allowing Hendrick to stay open for business.

Isaac won 48 poles and 37 races, and the 1970 Cup for owner Nord Krauskopf. He died of a heart attack in 1977 at a short-track race in North Carolina. He is the winningest Cup champion and second-winningest eligible driver not already in the Hall of Fame.

Labonte won the 1984 Cup for owner Billy Hagan and the 1996 title for Hendrick Motorsports. He won 27 poles and 22 races, and is half of the only brother combination to have won Cup titles.

Parks was the first championship-winning Cup team owner and an important player and powerbroker in NASCAR’s infancy. His cars won only two poles and two races in 18 starts (six during the first Cup season) between 1949 and 1955. Byron won both poles and both races, but Parks also had Bob and Fonty Flock, Tom Hall and Turner in his cars. He died in 2010.

Parsons, the 1973 Cup champion for L.G. DeWitt, won 20 poles and 21 races (including a Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600), and was among the first drivers to successfully move from the cockpit to the radio/TV booth. He died in January of 2007.

Phillips spent his entire career (1960-2001) on the small, weekly bullring tracks of the Midwest, winning a record five NASCAR Weekly Racing Series titles. He died in 2004 as one of racing’s winningest drivers.

Stefanik, much like Cook, spent almost his entire career in the Northeast, running short-track races several times a week. He won a record-tying eight NASCAR titles, six in the Modified Series and two in the Busch North/K&N East Series. He also made a handful of Xfinity Series and Truck Series starts.

Turner was among NASCAR’s earliest stars, a skillful driver with an appealing personality that helped in the sport’s early growth. Called “Pops,” he won 16 poles and 17 races in 184 starts between 1949 and 1968. He was suspended during the '50s by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. for his involvement with the Teamsters Union. He returned late in 1965 and promptly won at Rockingham, N.C. He died in a plane crash in 1970. 

Smith is the founder and longtime head of Speedway Motorsports Inc. Often at odds with NASCAR about their differences in approaches to the same problems, he nevertheless is considered a major player in forcing speedways to upgrade to keep up with the innovative he brought to his seven tracks.

Yates, a noted engine-builder and team owner, won the 1999 Sprint Cup title with Dale Jarrett. He began as an engine-builder at Holman-Moody before working for several other Ford-based teams. As an owner between 1989 and 2009, his drivers won 49 poles and 57 races, including many of NASCAR’s major superspeedway events. In addition to Jarrett’s title, Yates’ teams were top 10 in points on 14 other occasions;

Each of the first six classes into the Hall of Fame included five men.

-- The late Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr. and Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty and Junior Johnson were in the inaugural Class of 2010;

-- The Class of 2011 featured the late Lee Petty, plus David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett and Bud Moore;

-- The Class was 2012 was Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Dale Inman, Glen Wood and the late Richie Evans;

-- The 2013 class was Rusty Wallace and Leonard Wood, and the late Buck Baker, Cotton Owens and Herb Thomas;

-- In 2014, the Hall inducted Jack Ingram, Dale Jarrett, Maurice Petty and the late Fireball Roberts and Tim Flock;

-- And the just-inducted Class of 2015 featured Bill Elliott, Fred Lorenzen and Rex White, plus the late Wendell Scott and Joe Weatherly.

In addition to the 20 nominees for the Hall itself, NASCAR has nominated five others for the Landmark Award. Men and women on that ballot include competitors or members of an organization, track management, team, sponsor, media partner or ambassador for the sport. Award winners remain eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame at some later date.

This year’s Landmark nominees are Parks, broadcaster Ken Squier, the late track builders H. Clay Earles (Martinsville) and Harold Brasington (Darlington), and former R.J. Reynolds executive the late Ralph Seagraves.

The Class of 2016 will be announced on Wednesday at 6 p.m. during a one-hour show televised by NBCSN and Fox Sports 1.

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Denny Hamlin, Toyota hold off Kevin Harvick to win NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race

Non-points race win worth $1 million to Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing

With a deft move with three laps left in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin delivered the first victory in the non-points showcase event to Joe Gibbs Racing and to Toyota.

As he drove into turn one to start lap 97, with Kevin Harvick glued to his bumper and ready to make a run at the million-dollar first prize, Hamlin moved up a lane in the corner and took Harvick’s line away, causing Harvick’s No. 4 Chevrolet to lose momentum.

If that was the on-track move that made the difference, the real Saturday night heroes were the crew members on Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota, who gained five spots for their driver during mandatory four-tire pits stops before the race’s final 10-lap segment.

Hamlin led the field to the green for the final segment and stayed in front the rest of the way, beating Harvick to the finish line by .823 seconds.

Denny Hamilin celebrates a $1 million dollar payday at Charlotte for winning the Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday night. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Kurt Busch ran third, followed by Jeff Gordon (making his final All-Star appearance), Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch, who showed excellent speed in his first competition since breaking his right leg and left foot in an Xfinity Series race at Daytona on Feb. 21.

Brad Keselowski took the lead after the first segment, thanks to a two-tire call by crew chief Paul Wolfe. Though Kurt Busch started the second segment with four fresh tires, Keselowski was able to keep the No, 41 Chevrolet at bay throughout the run.

Kurt Busch led one lap during the battle, nosing ahead at the stripe, but Keselowski pinned him down on the inside through turns one and two and regained the top spot. Ultimately, Keselowski finished .349 seconds ahead of Busch in segment No. 2.

Both Keselowski and Busch took four tires between the second and third segments, and Keselowski led every lap en route to winning the third segment. Kevin Harvick got past Busch for second with four laps left.

But Kurt Busch restarted fifth to begin segment No. 4 and split the middle with a bold move into Turn 1. Three laps into the run, Busch passed Denny Hamlin for the lead, with Hamlin suffering the consequences of a two-tire track-position call that put him on the front row for the start of the segment.

Keeping Harvick a safe distance behind him, Busch won the fourth segment by 1.693 seconds over his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, and the cars entered pit road during the caution before the final 10-lap shootout in order of average finish over the first four segments. 

The top five entering the pits were Keselowski, Busch, Kasey Kahne, Harvick and Jeff Gordon, but Hamlin was first off pit road from stall No. 1, and Keselowski drew a speeding penalty that dropped him to the back of the field for the start of segment No. 5.

That left Hamlin and Busch on the front row for the restart, with Harvick and Kahne behind them.

Notes: Kahne passed Hamlin, the pole winner on lap 15 and went on to win the first segment… Danica Patrick took her car behind the wall with engine issues on lap 58 but returned to the track during segment No. 4, having lost 32 laps for repairs… Greg Biffle, who transferred into the All-Star race from Friday night’s Sprint Showdown, brushed the turn four wall twice during the first segment and was never a factor thereafter.

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Kyle Busch receives clearance to return to NASCAR

Driver will come back for Sprint Cup All-Star race

According to Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch has received medical clearance to return to the car and he will drive in this weekend's All-Star race in Charlotte, N.C. Busch hopes that getting back in his Toyota Camry and being competitive after an 11-race absence isn’t such a big deal.  “I’ve never been out of the seat this long in my career, so I hope getting back is just like riding a bicycle,” the 30-year-old said during a Tuesday call to confirm his return in this weekend’s Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “This was the first major injury in the 16 or 17 years I’ve been racing. It’s been the biggest physical and mental challenge of my career, but I never lost the desire to get back and be successful again.”  Busch, who drives the No. 18 Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, suffered a compound fracture of his lower right leg and a broken left foot in a Feb. 21 crash in the season-opening Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway. He’s undergone several surgeries, arduous rehab and untold hours of physical therapy. All the while, he missed 11 races: Daytona Beach, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Fontana, Martinsville, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega and Kansas City. He picked Saturday night’s All-Star race because, truth be told, it’s short (only 110 laps, 165 miles), divided into five segments (25, 25, 25, 25 and 10 laps), is a non-points event and features several short breaks during the program. Busch fully expects to return to points racing for good in the May 24 Coca-Cola 600, the year’s longest race.   

 

NASCAR Sprint Cup NASCAR could make Kyle Busch Chase eligible

It's unclear if Kyle Busch will race again this season, but if he does, NASCAR may make him eligible for the Chase, despite missing several races. This weekend, Busch will miss his ninth race ...

“I plan to do all on-track activities this weekend,” he said. “Going forward, we’ll probably have (JGR development driver) Erik Jones standing by, just in case. But, really, I don’t foresee any setbacks.” Busch seems appropriately proud that he’s recovered perhaps two months sooner than expected. Many NASCAR-watchers figured he’d be back for the July 5 race at Daytona International Speedway. “It hasn’t been an easy process,” he said. “Today is an exciting day for me, one that not a lot of folks thought possible that (Saturday) night down in the hospital in Daytona Beach. Not a lot of people would have bet I’d be back this soon, but I’m feeling good and ready to go. “There were good days and bad days during the therapy. There were times I thought I’d be ready for Talladega or Kansas City. A day later, after working out really hard, I knew I wasn’t ready. But I think it’s been a great accomplishment. The All-Star race is coming back faster than anyone anticipated. There were therapy sessions sometimes three-four-five days a week and they went for four-five-six hours a day. I’m pleased with how fast I recovered. It’s a remarkable time frame to make as much progress as I did.” NASCAR has indicated –- but not definitively confirmed -– that Busch will be eligible for the Chase for the Championship playoff field if he wins one of the next 15 points races, even if he’s not top 30 in points after the 26-race “regular season.” Officials have said, in effect, that his Daytona Beach injury was on them because there was no SAFER barrier on the wall entering turn one, where he hit. By rule, drivers must have a victory and be top 30 in points to make the 16-driver Chase field. “I know there’s been a lot of dialogue about that,” Busch said. “I’d like to race to a win and make the Chase, but the rest is in their hands.”    

 

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