In just his second appearance with his new team, Richard Childress Racing,
veteran NASCAR driver Kyle Busch wheeled his #8 Lucas Oil Products Chevrolet
Camaro ZL1 into victory lane at Auto Club Speedway in the Pala Casino 400 on
Sunday. Not only was this the 61st win for “Rowdy,” as fans affectionately refer to him,
but the future hall-of-famer also broke a long-standing record by current NASCAR
hall-of-famer Richard Petty: most consecutive seasons in the Cup Series with a win.
From the very beginning, Busch showed speed in his #8 machine. Starting 21st,
he made his way through the pack during Stage 1 and Stage 2, but made the
race-winning pass by Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain in Stage 3 and never
looked back. Out of the 200 laps in the race, Busch only led 27, but it was those 27 laps that mattered in the end.
“It’s just been really, really cool,” said Busch, following the historic win. ‘It’s been
a great piece of — we’re making history, right, but a great piece of opportunity to go out there and continue to win races at a new team with RCR, so I can’t say enough about Austin giving me a call, first and foremost, but then Richard and Judy giving me this opportunity to go out here and race for wins.
Ironically, Kyle Busch was also in contention for the win in the Daytona 500 last
week. He even led the race on lap 200—the same length this race was. However,
before Busch could take the checkered flag, NASCAR officials threw the caution flag,
forcing an “overtime” restart. Busch eventually lost the lead and finished 18th after
getting involved in a crash in overtime.
“Yeah, coulda-shoulda-woulda, right, last week.” said Kyle Busch, immediately
after climbing out of his car on the front stretch following the win. “[But] I can’t thank
Austin for calling me and getting me talking and getting me this opportunity to be able to come over here to RCR and be a part of Chevrolet and be able to race this Lucas Oil
Camaro today, to be able to put it up front like that, man.”
The 61st Cup Series win for Busch, it also marked the 19th consecutive season
for Busch in which he won a race. That now stands as the longest streak in NASCAR
Cup Series history, breaking Richard Petty’s record which stood at 18 seasons. Busch
joins Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as the first two drivers to secure their
spots in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs which will begin later in September.
Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain rounded out the top-three, with Daniel Suarez
and Kevin Harvick in-tow. Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, teammate
Austin Dillon, and Joey Logano rounded out the top-ten.
Next up for Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing will be the Pennzoil 400
presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 5th. Busch
will also be doing “triple-duty” during the Las Vegas weekend, racing in the NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series for his team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, on Friday, and the
NASCAR Xfinity Series race for Kaulig Racing on Saturday alongside the
aforementioned Cup Series race on Sunday.
The race will be aired on FOX, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM.