October 28, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

Kyle Busch conserves fuel to end winless streak at Texas

Kyle Busch couldn’t defend his championship in 2020, but he continued a 16-season winning streak with his victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Wednesday.

Feeling like the zombies that adorned his helmet following the longest weather delay in the NASCAR Cup Series since Bristol in 1973, Busch restarted ninth when the race resumed three days after originally taking the green flag. Busch had not visited Victory Lane since last year’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway which secured the title for the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team.

But with encouragement and coaching from crew chief Adam Stevens and spotter Tony Hirschmann, Busch was able to manage his fuel over the final 66 laps for his 57th NASCAR Cup win.

“It’s been a really long time,” Busch said before waving the checkered flag and taking a bow. Just kept getting great leadership and mentoring from Adam and Tony and those guys kept talking to me and kept reminding me about saving and being able to do what I could. Trying to stay in the draft as much as I could on the straightaways. It ran out coming right in here to do a burnout, so I had enough to get a little bit of a burnout. I don’t know if it will make it back.

“I can’t say enough about Adam Stevens and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. I appreciate all your hard work. Everybody at Toyota and TRD. This Skittles Zombie machine looked bad to the bone and it’s really, really awesome. I had to do a zombie remake here (helmet). This is what everybody looked like around here for the last three days. Everybody just zombied on their phones.”

Martin Truex Jr., finished second followed by Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Matt DiBenedetto, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano.

Trouble started early for the Playoff contenders on Sunday at Texas. Truex was forced to start from the rear and had his crew chief James Small ejected after inspectors discovered an rear illegal spoiler on the No. 19 Toyota. Persistent mist proved problematic, particularly for points leader Kevin Harvick and Hamlin. J.J. Yeley spun on Lap 22 just prior to the competition caution. When the race restarted on Lap 27, Hamlin slid sideways while running third and dropped to 28th. While leading the race, Harvick hit the wall and fell to 38th after pitting. NASCAR called the third caution for precipitation on Lap 45.

The 72 hours of Texas resumed on Lap 57 with Clint Bowyer in the lead. Denny Hamlin experienced his second incident of the race when Matt Kenseth slowed in front of the No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin could not check up in time and punted Kenseth who collided into Bubba Wallace ending both of their races. After two stops for repairs, Hamlin restarted 25th.

Stage 1 was slowed again for debris on Lap 77, but Bowyer maintained the lead and held on to win the segment. Bowman’s team elected to skip tires on the Lap 108 pit stop and exited with the lead. William Byron punted Joey Gase to ignite the seventh caution on Lap 133. Bowman relinquished the lead in the pits when he was blocked exiting his pit stall.

Blaney took the lead on the Lap 139 restart. Truex passed him on Lap 156. Harvick pitted from sixth on Lap 176 while running sixth. Eight laps later, Kyle Busch passed Blaney for second. Busch took the lead on Lap 199 after Truex pitted from the point. Chase Elliott, who came in on the same lap while running sixth, reported a vibration on the No. 9 Chevrolet. The team called him back to the pits and he dropped to 27th. Busch held on for the stage win on Lap 211—his third of the season.

Busch remained on the track when the remaining cars on the lead lap pitted. The race restarted on Lap 217 and Busch stayed out front until Lap 268. With 55 laps remaining, Kyle Busch cycled to the lead after Bell pitted. Knowing that Bowyer could not go the distance on fuel, Busch allowed the No. 14 Ford to pass on Lap 283. With 30 laps remaining, Bowyer led the field with Busch, Truex, Bell, Blaney, Bowman, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Matt DiBenedetto and Hamlin in tow.

Running low on fuel, Bowyer relinquished the lead to Busch with 24 to go. Kyle Busch went into fuel conservation mode with less than a second advantage over Truex.

“We knew he was close (on fuel),” Truex said. “The only thing we could do at that point is what we did all day anyway, which is try to run flat-out. Hell of an effort by the guys… It seems like one of those years when we’re second, third, fourth. We’re there a lot. We just needed a little bit more to be better.”

Despite running low on fuel, Busch was able to hold off his teammate and extended his lead to .468-seconds at the checkers.

“It means a lot just to keep that winning streak going,” said Busch after scoring his fourth Texas win. “That’s the biggest thing I was hoping for and obviously wanting to accomplish this year before the year was out.

“Winning the race was precedent. I knew we had a good car early on in the race. We were really loose, but we made some adjustments before the rain and then obviously sitting around for three days. Being able to get back at it, I knew we were going to have a good piece. It was just a matter of getting through traffic. Some of those guys on the short runs were just putting me in really bad aero spots and I was able to make something happen once we all got single-filed out I could roll and show them what we really had.”

Harvick maintains a 15-point lead over Hamlin with Sunday's race at Martinsville to determine the Championship 4.