Kyle Busch Can Make A Statement At Fontana
Kyle Busch Can Make A Statement At Fontana
The Candy Man has dominated Auto Club Speedway like few other drivers.
If we learned nothing else at the Daytona 500, it was that Kyle Busch is still in vintage Kyle Busch form.
That goes for his driving, as Busch managed to work his way up from No. 36 on the starting grid to actually lead the race late, before getting outmaneuvered on an overtime restart (and then caught up a massive wreck on the final lap). And of course, it goes for his attitude, as evidenced by this salty post-race interview after Busch came up short again at Daytona in his 18th try.
But Busch shouldn’t get too bummed out by his 19th-place finish at the Great American Race. In his first official outing for Richard Childress Racing after moving on from his longtime ride with Joe Gibbs last offseason, Busch ran well — 54% of his laps were in the Top 15 — and he ended up finishing 14 spots higher than teammate Austin Dillon. In the same No. 8 car that helped Tyler Reddick produce an adjusted points per race (Pts+) of 138 — or 38% better than the Cup Series average — last season, there’s no reason Busch can’t have a big debut year for RCR in 2023.
And he’ll get a chance to really jump-start things this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, during what will be its final race as a 2-mile oval. Busch loves driving there, and few drivers have been rewarded more by the track over the years. Among tracks he’s run on at least 15 times, only Richmond (7.0 average finish) has seen Busch do better on average than Fontana (9.8). At the same time, among all-time drivers with at least 15 races at Auto Club, only Jimmie Johnson (7.6) and Carl Edwards (8.7) have a better average finish there than Busch.
Kyle Larson may be the favorite to win this weekend, but Busch (+1000) should be a good pick to finish strong at a track he knows very well — and don’t be surprised if he uses the result as a springboard to something great this season.
Filed under: NASCAR