“Just lots of fun all night long with the way we got to lead a little bit,” said Busch, who won at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway during the regular season. “We were off sequence a little early on, and then it seemed like: How are we supposed to balance out? How many sets of tires do we have left? What do the other guys have for tires? That is really what created the excitement of the guys passing, the guys trying to preserve their position. It felt great to race three-wide at a short track, and everybody gave each other room. I was impressed with the show from inside the cockpit. I hope the fans were, as well.”
Busch was able to recover from an early miscue where he came to pit road for scheduled service but missed his pit stall. That forced another trip down pit road and a drop to 22nd in the running order. The Las Vegas native methodically worked his way back to the front of the field, leading twice for three laps.
Tire management became a key component in Busch’s 17th top-10 this season and his 13th top-10 in 32 career Sprint Cup starts at Richmond, as he and crew chief Tony Gibson elected to used scuffed tires to save a set of stickers for the end of the race. A record number of caution periods prevented Busch from getting all he could at the end of the race, but he still brought home a respectable eighth-place finish to close out the regular season.
“It was our Chase effort,” Busch said. “A car that we know real well, a setup we know real well. We qualified fifth, finished eighth. Where we struggled tonight was on restarts; we would lose one spot here, one spot there, and that took us from a top-five to a top-10. Kept losing a few spots here or there isn’t big, but you want to attack during the Chase.”
Busch’s teammate Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, led the four-car SHR contingent Saturday night by finishing fifth.
Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 Nature’s Bakery Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 15th.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 33rd after an accident on lap 363.
Denny Hamlin won the Federated Auto Parts 400 to score his 29th career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his third at Richmond.
Kyle Larson finished .609 of a second behind Hamlin in the runner-up spot, while Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Harvick rounded out the top-five. Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Busch, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There was a record 16 caution periods for 89 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish the race, which went into overtime and finished seven laps beyond its scheduled 400 circuits at the .75-mile oval.
Richmond marked the last race of the regular season. Now the 16-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins.
NASCAR recalibrated the points for the 16 Chase drivers as soon as the Richmond race was over, with each driver getting 2,000 points. Drivers also received three bonus points for each of their respective wins during the 26-race regular season. For drivers starting the Chase with identical point totals, their seed was determined by the traditional tiebreaker of best finishes beyond race victories.
Positions 1-13 in the Chase field were determined by the drivers with the greatest number of wins after the first 26 races. Positions 14-16 went to the drivers who, while winless during the regular season, had the most points.
Harvick qualified for the Chase by virtue of his wins at Phoenix International Raceway in March and at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August. Each of his regular-season victories was worth three bonus points. As such, Harvick carries six bonus points into the Chase to slot fourth among the 16 drivers. Harvick finished the regular season ranked first with 876 points. This is Harvick’s seventh-consecutive Chase appearance and his 10th overall. He won the Sprint Cup championship in 2014.
Kurt Busch qualified for the Chase via his win at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in June. He’ll start the Chase 10th with three bonus points. Busch finished the regular season ranked fifth with 762 points. This is Busch’s fourth-straight Chase appearance and 10th overall. He won the championship in his Chase debut in 2004.
Stewart qualified for the Chase via his win at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in June. He’ll start the Chase 12th with three bonus points. Stewart finished the regular season ranked 27th with 434 points. This is Stewart’s ninth Chase appearance and his first since 2012. Stewart won the Sprint Cup championship in 2005 and 2011. He won his first championship in 2002 under the former season-long format.
Ranked in order of where their bonus points seeded them, the 16 drivers competing for this year’s championship are:
1. Kyle Busch (2,012 points)
2. Brad Keselowski (2,012 points)
3. Denny Hamlin (2,009 points, -3)
4. Kevin Harvick (2,006 points, -6)
5. Carl Edwards (2,006 points, -6)
6. Martin Truex Jr. (2,006 points, -6)
7. Matt Kenseth (2,006 points, -6)
8. Jimmie Johnson (2,006 points, -6)
9. Joey Logano (2,003 points, -9)
10. Kurt Busch (2,003 points, -9)
11. Kyle Larson (2,003 points, -9)
12. Tony Stewart (2,003 points, -9)
13. Chris Buescher (2,003 points, -9)
14. Chase Elliott (2,000 points, -12)
15. Austin Dillon (2,000 points, -12)
16. Jamie McMurray (2,000 points, -12)
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule – the first race of the Chase – is the Sept. 18 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. The race starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN.
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