Kyle Busch clears huge hurdle with win at Sonoma Raceway

Even before Sunday’s NASCAR victory, Kyle Busch could sense something different about this season.

The past four-plus months have included many changes – some planned, others not.

In February, Busch broke his right leg and left ankle in an accident in the season-opening NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Daytona Beach, Fla., and missed the first 11 races of the Sprint Cup Series season.

He and his wife, Samantha, welcomed their first child in May – a life-changing experience all on its own. When he returned to action at the Sprint All-Star Race last month, he was welcomed by fans with far more cheers than jeers.

It happened again Sunday after Busch held off his older brother Kurt to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, a victory that help lights an improbable path toward his first series championship.

After a tire-torching burnout in front of cheering fans, Busch was asked how it felt to be back in Victory Lane after everything that had transpired over the past several months.

“I don’t know if they can all understand how it feels,” he said looking toward the crowd. “There’s some sentimental fans out there for sure, the ones that are cheering that normally wouldn’t cheer for me.

“I pulled up here and blew the tires and the thing wouldn’t make the turn (into Victory Lane) and I blew the rear tires off of it. I was like, ‘Alright, park it right here and we’ll walk in.’

“Walking in on a broken leg and a broken foot, nothing better than doing that.”

Unlike the other 10 race winners this season, Busch isn’t guaranteed a spot in the 16-driver Chase … yet.

In order to use his victory to gain entry in the Chase, he must still be in the top 30 in driver points by the conclusion of the 26th race of the season.

With 10 races remaining until the cutoff, he is 136 points behind 30th place, Cole Whitt.

Sunday’s win eliminated one important hurdle for Busch, and it may have helped make the second easier to clear.

“I figured the win was going to be the hardest thing to get, but now that that’s here and it’s out of the way, we can now work towards being able to get ourselves in the top 30 and then just get some good solid finishes,” Busch said.

“When we’re running third, fourth or fifth, we don’t have to take that chance of going for a win and having an opportunity of crashing or something like that. You get those kinds of finishes and the points are going to add up and you’re going to be fine making the Chase.”

Team owner Joe Gibbs is a little more skeptical on the difficulties ahead, in part because of the unknown variables that seem to plague NASCAR events week to week.

“This is extremely hard, to average what we’ve got to average. It’s a tough, tough thing to do,” he said. “I mean, last year, we raced ourselves to death and Kyle averaged 17th last year, so it shows you how hard this is, so we’ve got a tough assignment.

“But I think Adam (Stevens, Busch’s crew chief) and Kyle – we’re going to go after it every week and we’ll see what happens.”

Sunday’s race also featured an unexpected for Busch, who holds numerous NASCAR records. It marked the first time Kyle and Kurt finished 1-2 in a Cup series race.

Although the brothers’ relationship hasn’t always been smooth, one of the first things Kyle mentioned over his team radio after taking the checkered flag was noting that milestone.

“We grew up racing on ovals, but to do that here on a road course, I think that’s just a true testament to our father and everything he’s done for us over the years to get us to the point which we’re at,” Kyle said.

“To have both Busch brothers be as good as we are and to be winning drivers on the Sprint Cup tour each year is certainly a true testament to our family.”

This story was originally published June 28, 2015 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Kyle Busch clears huge hurdle with win at Sonoma Raceway."