LEBANON, Tenn: Sunday’s weather-plagued Ally 400 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway was dominated by the Toyotas but when the checkered flag flew under the Tennessee lights, Kurt Busch was the only car that had a chance at bringing home the trophy.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. collectively led 250 of the 300 laps, but when Josh Bilicki blew an engine inside the final 10 laps of the race, a decision had to be made whether to pit or stay out.
Busch, Hamlin and Truex all opted to pit for tires and adjustments, while 23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch took the opposite and decided to stay out and challenge Chase Elliott for his second Cup Series win of the season.
Despite a relatively even restart with four laps to go, Elliott used his position on the track to clear the former Cup Series champion leaving Busch to settle for second with his fifth top-five of the season and the best result for the driver of the No. 45 Monster Energy Drink Toyota Camry since winning at Kansas Speedway last month.
“I got soft on him (Elliott),” said Busch after the race. “I should have been throwing some fenders and moving some momentum around. I didn’t stick with our strength. We didn’t have many strengths tonight. We just executed really well. The restarts were so-so and long run speed was good. I just needed to stick with our strength and I messed up.
“I want to thank all my guys at 23XI. We have a great group of guys and girls. The way that we’re running, a second is cool, but we’re here for wins with the Playoff situation. Thanks to Monster Energy, Toyota and all of our associate sponsors. This Camry and all the TRD Camrys were awesome. I just hate it when we don’t get into victory lane and I was right there.”
Busch said the decision had already been made at the time of caution by crew chief Billy Scott, he was set on keeping the Las Vegas, Nev. native on the race track.
“We were going to stay out no matter what and I needed to start throwing fenders to move people around,” Busch added. “I didn’t get after it and I made too many mistakes and didn’t stick with our strength. I’m not going to say what our strength was, but we did a lot of things good. We didn’t have one exceptional item.
“We’re second with our Toyota Camry. I want to do it over, but you don’t get those at this elite level and Chase (Elliott) got the job done.”
Hamlin who won the pole and led 114 overall charged back to finish sixth, earning just his fourth top-10 of 2022.
Kyle Busch who lost the lead to Elliott on Lap 262 and pitted from second place on the final pit stop was mired in traffic on the restart and eventually plunged to 21st after being involved in a last lap on-track incident. He led the third-most laps in the race at 54.
The younger Busch had spent most of the race climbing from the rear of the field in his No. 18 Pedigree Toyota Camry after crashing in qualifying and starting shotgun on the field.
Truex had similar woes in the final restart and after leading a season-high 82 laps was forced to settle for 22nd.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s other driver, Christopher Bell who did not pit during the final yellow recovered from contact with BJ McLeod on pit road to finish eighth in his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, registering his 10th top-10 of 2022.
He joined Busch as the only other Toyota driver inside the top-10.
Kurt Busch’s teammate Darrell Wallace Jr. had a fast No. 23 Root Insurance Toyota Camry and spent portions of the race inside the top-10, but was plagued by issues throughout the race, including a botched pit stop and an untimely caution during green flag pit stops deep into Stage 3.
Wallace, however, joined his 23XI Racing teammate by staying out during the last caution which vaulted him from 23rd to inside the top-10. However, he lost a couple spots on the restart with cars with fresher tires resulting in a 12th place effort at the checkered flag.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
